Quill Pal
by gimmethejuice
Summary: Seventh Year a program called 'Quill Pal' starts in the hopes of students becoming friends with and dating outside of their own House. Voldemort is already defeated, won't go there. HPDM, Drarry, SLASH. If you like quick hookups, this isn't for you.
1. Year Seven Begins

**Quill-Pal **

_AU/Alternate Universe_ – Some characters are still alive and some 'official' story lines are not followed as canon. It's as if books five, six, and seven weren't even written yet. And someone pointed out that some of my story has some 'modern' things in it, so we'll just assume the time frame is recent and definitely not canon.

_Warning:_ SLASH, Harry/Draco pairing. If Slash offends you, now is your chance to run away.

_Typical_– Yes, my explanation for Voldemort's death is pretty generic. Sorry kids!

_Obligatory Disclaimer_ - J.K. Rowling owns Harry Potter. Duh. I am not making money off this fictional writing. This is completely for hobby and fun. This disclaimer goes for every chapter.

_Summary_ - Seventh Year a program called _Quill Pal_ starts in the hopes of students becoming friends with and dating outside of their own House. Voldemort is already defeated, won't go there. HPDM, Drarry, SLASH. If you like quick hookups, this isn't for you.

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**:Chapter One: **_**Year Seven Begins**_

The sun shining on Harry's face woke him up. He realized that he forgot to close the curtains around his canopy bed last night, so he turned to his side - putting his back to the window. Smiling, he remembered this was his first day back Hogwarts. He missed sleeping in this bed every time he was away for summer break. He was glad to be back and excited to see what this year would bring.

He was now in year seven. Last year he had defeated Voldemort. Professor Dumbledore helped him practice the wandless magic that he had always possessed; slowly Harry had become more and more powerful and yet, he was still as modest as when he first stepped onto the Hogwarts Express.

The War was finally over and now Harry could attempt to have his first peaceful year at Hogwarts. At least he hoped.

With Voldemort gone and almost all of the Death Eaters either killed or in Azkaban, everyone assumed Harry should be content and happy in every way. But with years built off negativity and non-stop thoughts of death, he just needed time to learn what it meant to be happy and carefree. Plus, the nightmares he continued having about the War didn't help too much with his healing.

Harry had now been lying in bed for a couple of hours thinking, when he heard his roommates waking up. The Saturday was just beginning. They knew they had to get to the Great Hall for breakfast in less than an hour. That is when the hall closed on weekends and they wouldn't have an opportunity to eat again until after noon.

Harry threw his covers off and sat on the side of his bed. Rubbing his eyes and trying to pretend he just woke up also. He did not want to start the year off with Ron worrying about him.

"Are you coming to shower, Harry?" Ron Weasley asked.

"Yeah, I'll be there in a minute." Harry said as he watched his roommates walk out of the shared dorm room with their clothes and wash supplies in their hands.

Harry got up and grabbed his cleaning supplies and stopped at his wardrobe. He opened the door and reached inside. Picked out a dark blue form-fitting shirt and a pair of snug black jeans. He was sure the school would be in shock. Yes, Harry had finally learned to dress decently. Over the summer, he had stumbled across some muggle clothing catalogs for young men. He had immediately apparated to the closest store and spent hours trying on all sorts of clothing. The sales associate, Brent, was overly flirty each time Harry had selected an outfit that looked sexy on him. So he knew exactly which ones to buy.

Then, he had owled Hermione and Ron and asked them to take him to some thrift shops to buy some unique items including a few thin jackets for fall. He even bought a few muggle shirts for Ron to deliver to his dad.

When the trio met up, Hermione taught Harry a spell she learned to correct his vision temporarily so he would no longer need to wear glasses. The spell only lasts a week at a time, but she taught him how to do the spell by himself.

**-o-O-o-**

As Harry walked into the communal shower he briefly stopped in the changing area to put his clean clothes and towel on a bench and then strip off his pajamas. Then he left the changing area with his cleaning supplies and walked back towards the showers. The shower area was a huge rectangle with about twenty showerheads on each side. There weren't any stalls and you could definitely get an eyeful even if you didn't try. The showers they were using were for fifth years and above.

Listening to the conversation going on between Ron and Dean, Harry started washing up. They were in an animated talk about Quidditch, of course. He tuned them out and started to think about the new school changes. This was the first year that Dumbledore had the students arrive on Friday night to the Welcoming Ceremony and Sorting Hat event, instead of Sunday night.

This way, the new students had the weekend to make friends and the other years had time to discuss their summer and hang out with their friends so they would be less distracted come time for class on Monday.

While washing his hair, Harry though about Brent - who was kind of his ex-boyfriend. Before Harry could leave the muggle clothing store during summer, Brent had asked him out on a date. Harry had accepted, mainly because he didn't want to hurt his feelings by turning him down.

For the first date they met up at a local coffee shop. Harry surprised himself by having a really good time. Brent was easy to talk to and very easy to look at. Like himself, Brent had very dark hair. But his was long and very straight. His hair covered most of his forehead and went past his jaw. He was fit from skateboarding and promised to give Harry lessons if he wanted.

After having tea and coffee they decided things were going well enough that they would go see some local bands play. Harry wasn't sure if he had ever had so much fun. Apparently his new clothing was a hit, because he had tons of guys and girls smiling at him. So many in fact, that Brent had possessively put his arm around Harry's waist a few minutes after they walked in the door at the venue.

Harry was shocked at what that made him feel. When he had originally accepted the date, he figured that they could turn out to be friends because he didn't quite think he was bisexual or gay. Not that he had anything against that, but he couldn't think of a time when he felt sexual towards another guy. But come to think of it, he never really felt overly sexual towards any girls either. Sure, he had a couple of crushes on girls in the past, but it had never gone past kissing.

Speaking of which… Harry again thought back to the night of his first date with another guy. After the show, Brent decided to escort Harry home on the bus. The whole way there, they held hands and when they finally ended up at the Dursley's house, Brent leaned over and kissed Harry full on the lips. It was short and sweet. It also proved to Harry that he was at least bisexual. Of course, as soon as he walked in the door – his Uncle was screaming at him for coming home at such an ungodly hour and with alcohol on his breath. But the reminder that Harry had just defeated on of the most powerful wizards in the world a few months back allowed him to casually walk up the stairs and go into his bedroom without further interrogation.

**-o-O-o-**

Harry turned off the water tap and walked to the changing area with the rest of the guys to retrieve his towel and dry off. As he started getting dressed, his mind drifted back to Brent.

In the beginning of their 'special' friendship, Harry explained to the other boy that when summer ended he would be going to Boarding School in a different country and that he didn't think it wise to start anything too serious. They both agreed to be friends, but they wouldn't stop any natural progression that happened. By the time summer ended, they were definitely close but both mutually decided to keep in touch as friends. Neither wanted to try for a long distance relationship.

Harry was brought back to the future when Ron slapped him on the back a few times.

"It's good to see you, mate!" Ron grinned, "I wish you would have come stayed at The Burrow with us this summer."

"I wanted to, but I really needed some time to myself after everything that happened last year." Harry said.

"Yeah, I understand. I am glad I got to spend at least one day with you. Even if it was at a few muggle used clothing stores!" Ron said.

"Oi, mate! You aren't wearing your glasses," Said someone behind Ron and Harry, "you look good."

Harry blushed. "Thanks Dean."

As everyone started leaving the bathroom, Harry didn't notice a couple of the guys looking at him in an appreciative matter.

**-o-O-o-**

Ron, Harry, and Hermione walked into the Great Hall. Harry was too absorbed in their conversation to hear any of the catcalls directed at him. He surely didn't notice a particular blond Slytherin raising a single eyebrow in his direction.

Sitting down, Harry piled his plate with pancakes and strawberries.

"I want to talk to you both about something. Let's hurry up and eat and go for a walk around the lake." Hermione suggested.

"And the year begins." Ron then winced when Hermione elbowed him in the ribs.

Ron leaned over to Harry and said, "I hope she isn't going to start in about our class schedules and homework. This weekend is supposed to be free from of all of that."

"I know!" Harry whispered, with a huge grin on his face.

**-o-O-o-**

The three friends had been walking around the lake chatting for about ten minutes when Hermione stopped at a big tree and sat in its shade. Both boys followed and sat down beside her, leaning against the tree.

"I just wanted to tell you about a plan I came up with this summer." Hermione started while fidgeting with her skirt hem. "I am planning on going to Professor McGonagall and suggesting to start a Pen pal-type system."

"Why would you do something like that?" Ron asked while looking stunned.

"Well how many friends do you have that are not in Gryffindor? I know we say hi and wave to a few people from other houses, but how many of those people would you actually meet up with, at say, the library just to spend time talking to?" Hermione asked.

'Um' was the only answer the boys could give her.

"Exactly my point." Hermione said enthusiastically. "It can also be used as a dating service, because most of us don't know anyone from other houses well enough to ask them out. Not many people hang out with anyone who isn't in their house. And not only that, but even people in your own house. Most of us only stick with the same few friends. What if there is someone in our own house that we are a great match for – but we haven't really given them a chance to get to know them like that?"

At this point, the boys were giving each other odd looks.

"Oh come on you two!" Hermione roared as she pushed Ron in the shoulder. "This is a great idea." She said as she hopped up and started walking back to the castle alone. "I'm going to talk to the Professor even if you can't see how good of an idea this is."

After she was out of earshot, Ron shook his head and said, "She's gone completely mad."

**-o-O-o-**

Later that night, Hermione entered the Gryffindor common room with a winning grin on her face. The following morning, there was a note attached to all four House bulletin boards as well as the one outside the Great Hall, reading:

Quill-Pal

Dear Students,

A pen-pal system of sorts will be started this year. It will allow you to make friends with people of Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin.

Along with that, there will even be a secret dating match-up system installed.

There will be papers to fill out, for each service. The friendship form will try to match you with the top five people that you have the most common interests with. Please realize that you may or may not be included in their top five matches.

The dating form will match you with the top three girls and top three boys who you are most compatible with, as well as a compatibility number from 1 percent to 100 percent. There will be no way to select your sexual orientation. When you receive the list (which will have an anonymous mailbox code number listed instead of any names), you can read their answers and decide whether you want to contact the person back, based on your own personal judgement.

I would like to remind you that the Wizarding World is open to many types of relationships. Wizards marry other Wizards, Muggles, Veelas, Werewolves, Elves, Vampires, and even Giants on an occasion or two. If you open your heart and learn to care about someone based on their mind instead of their Species or Sex, you might just find yourself living happily ever after!

You can then decide to start your Quill-ship with the person(s), if any, that you feel most connected to. It is up to both of you to decide if you wish to continue with the Quill-ship, meet in person, or discreetly stop all communications.

The mailboxes can only be opened by the person to whom it is assigned. The number on the box will NOT correspond to the mail number you send it to. This way sneaky people cannot try to figure out who their matches are before they decide to meet.

And the last thing to note is that no one – not teacher nor student - will get to read any of these forms or answers. The Sorting Hat has agreed to match up the potential friendships and romances in secret and never ever reveal anything he reads. He has been set up with a few school owls that will deliver the responses and this way no one can try to find out who they are corresponding with.

Please answer truthfully on your forms. The Sorting Hat already has met each one of you and will know if you are fibbing. If you are found to be answering incorrectly on purpose (as a joke or gag), he has the power to shred your forms and never allow you to join in again.

And lastly, it is sad that I have to say this, but I feel that I must. If you go through this process, please be respectful to others. If you start a Quill-ship with someone and decide to meet in person – please do not be rude or mean to him or her if they turn out to be someone you would least expect to be paired with. All the answers you filled out connect you to this person. If you decide to not maintain a friendship or relationship, be honest and respectful of each other. If too many negative things come from this – the Quill-ship will be permanently discontinued.

Yours truly,

Professors Dumbledore and McGonagall

(And special thanks to the creator of this program, whom wishes to remain anonymous.)

_-end of chapter-_

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Authors Note One: This is my first attempt at fanfiction. Feedback is appreciated - especially if you notice any serious errors or flaws.


	2. Outing Harry

_-Story Disclaimer is at the beginning of Chapter One-_

Author's Note: Please remember this is a semi-Alternate Universe.

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**:Chapter Two: **_**Outing Harry**_

As the Gryffindor common room filled the following Sunday morning, many of the girls were squealing and chatting about the newest paper on the bulletin board.

"Quill-Pal, that sounds fabulous!" Lavender Brown exclaimed as all of the other girls cheered in agreement with her.

Many of the boys curiously walked over to the bulletin board and read the announcement. Most of them acted as if they weren't interested, but some gladly looked around the room trying to find the forms to fill out.

Already most of the girls were filling out their forms.

Hermione walked up to Harry and Ron and said, "Hey, don't tell anyone this was my idea. I'm afraid that if some of the other Houses hear I came up with it, they might be disrespectful and won't bother filling out the forms properly."

"Yeah, sure." Harry agreed and Ron nodded his head, his entire mind focused on breakfast.

Both boys walked out of the Common Room without even reading the posting or grabbing a paper to fill out. Hermione just glared at them.

**-o-O-o-**

On the way to the Great Hall, Ron looked at Harry questioningly.

"Do you plan on filling the forms out, Harry?" Ron wondered.

"Um, I think it is a good idea for people to make friends outside their Houses… but I'm not sure if I will."

"Yeah me either. " Ron said while looking doubtful. A moment later he asked, "Do you think it's possible for me to be paired up with that pretty girl from Hufflepuff, Hannah Abbott?"

"Anything's possible, Ron." Grinned Harry.

**-o-O-o-**

When they entered the Great Hall, they noticed it was emptier than it normally would have been.

"Everyone is probably still in their Common Rooms filling out forms." Ron thought out loud.

They quickly sat down at their usual spots at the Gryffindor table and proceeded to load their plates with food.

After a while, the Great Hall started to flow with more and more students. They were all pretty excited about the Quill-Pal program it seemed. Everyone was wearing smiles and suddenly taking notice of people from other Houses. Apparently in the hopes of finding someone they wished to be paired up with.

Harry looked up and unconsciously noticed Draco Malfoy had been sitting at the table by himself until the burst of students came flooding in and his friends sat down beside him.

'_I guess Malfoy's too full of himself to ever be caught filling out those forms._' Harry thought to himself.

Just then, Hermione, Ginny, Dean, Seamus, Neville, and the rest of the Gryffindor crew sat down and started to pile up their plates.

"Who's up for an afternoon game of Quidditch?" Seamus said.

When most of them had chorused in with, "I am," they all started to eat faster so they could take over the Quidditch field before any other House.

Just then, the morning mail came in. Hedwig dropped a small parcel off to Harry. His friends all looked at him questioningly – but he didn't seem shocked at all. He took his parcel and quickly opened it, and started reading the letter. His friends looked around to each other, all thinking the same thing. Harry rarely ever received mail. And when he did during third year (letters from Sirius, but only Hermione and Ron knew that), he had only received letters and not packages. Come to think of it, he had only received packages a few times during the entire seven years he had gone to Hogwarts.

Harry was smiling as he read his letter, which perplexed his friends even more. Curiously, Ron was trying to look over his shoulder to see whom it was from. Harry kept moving, trying to keep the letter to himself.

Then Ron noticed the opened package and picked up what was inside. He was studying the contraption but couldn't even guess what it was.

"It's an mp3 player, Ron." Hermione informed him.

"An Empee Three what?"

"It is a muggle device used to listen to music."

"Um, okay." He said as he placed the Empee Three plaything back down on the table when something else caught his eye. He picked up an envelope that wasn't sealed shut and noticed it had a large stack of photos inside. Gingerly, he pulled them out and began to brief through them, unknowingly to Harry.

"WHAT THE HELL!" Ron shouted maybe a little bit too loudly because it basically drew everyone in the room's attention to the Gryffindor table.

Harry glanced over and saw the stack of photos. As he was grabbing them out of Ron's hand, you could hear Professor McGonagall clearly telling Ron from the Head Table to watch his mouth before he had House Points deducted, leaving Gryffindor with a negative amount before the official school year even started.

The rest of the Gryffindor crew (and some other House members), tried to lean over to see what had clearly discomforted Ron, but Harry shoved the photos back into the envelope and quickly stowed it into his jacket pocket. Blushing, he turned to Ron, who was clearly looking at Harry as if he had produced a third eye on his forehead. Harry leaned over and promised to explain himself when no one else was around. Ron nodded and turned forward to stare at his now-empty breakfast plate.

Some of the people in the hall had gone back to their conversations and meals. But not all, as some of them were still very curious about this package that Harry received – which was not only an odd thing in itself, but had clearly traumatized his best friend. And a few girls were silently pouting, wondering if Harry would even bother filling out the Quill-Pal form since he obviously had a girlfriend that was mailing him stuff.

Even though Harry was still blushing brightly and trying to ignore concerned looks from Hermione, he picked up his mp3 player, put the earplugs in his ears and turned the power on. When no noise came from it he made a face. Hermione guessed what was wrong and swished her wand and cast a spell on it. He couldn't hear the spell she used, but he gave her a thumbs-up when the music started. She smiled at him and nodded her head.

With that done, Harry picked up the rest of his package and said, "See you guys on the field," and walked briskly out of the Great Hall.

**-o-O-o-**

Harry stopped at his dorm room and grabbed his Firebolt. Everyone was still at breakfast, so he sat on his bed and pulled out the stack of photos. As soon as he saw the first photo, he knew why Ron had gotten so upset. All the photos were muggle and non-moving, first off. Second, the top photo was a close up of a boy kissing Harry on his cheek - right near his mouth, while Harry was laughing and definitely enjoying it.

Brent.

Harry smiled and continued flipping through the photos. He could always fawn over them later. Most of the photos had him and Brent in them. You could tell some of them were taken by a third party and showed him and Brent together, one showed Harry getting a piggy back ride from Brent somewhere in downtown London, quite a few of Harry dancing in a very crowded club, a few of Brent and Harry sharing a crepe, a couple photos that Harry himself took of Brent being goofy, a handful of Brent and Harry kissing each other without reserve, and even some pictures of them with a bunch of Brent's friends at a house party they had attended. Harry wondered how many photos Ron had looked through before he got to the cheek kissing one because there were a few photos that were much raunchier than the one Ron had stopped on.

Harry put the photos back in the envelope, turned off the music, and then picked up the letter to finish reading where he left off when Ron had interrupted him. A couple minutes later, he stood up and put the letter and photos into his trunk and locked it.

**-o-O-o-**

A couple of weeks ago, Harry had owled Dumbledore to ask him about keeping in touch with his new muggle friend. Dumbledore wrote back saying that he would set up a Wizarding Post Office Box address for the muggle friend to mail to, and then that mail would be forwarded to Hogwarts through owls. And Harry could send Hedwig with the replies, back to the same Wizarding Post Office, who would then forward all mail into the regular muggle system.

Harry was glad he thought to keep in touch with Brent because he had only been at school for a few days and already he was receiving mail. He loved the mp3 player that he received. Brent was nice enough to load it up with thousands of songs and even a bunch of the music from local bands that they both went to see through out the summer.

Harry turned the music back on, grabbed his Quidditch gear and Firebolt, and left his dorm room.

As he went to leave the common room he ran into some of his housemates that were on their way up to grab their Quidditch gear. He noticed Ron looking out of sorts, so he went back through the Fat Lady portrait, and sat down on a couch to wait for him.

A few minutes later, some of them appeared. Harry stood up and walked over to Ron.

"Can I have a word with you?" Harry asked. Ron nodded.

They walked out of the portrait and many minutes later were outside of the castle. Neither had spoken a word yet. Harry nudged Ron's arm with his elbow and pointed to a series of benches that weren't being used. Ron followed him.

"So… you seem upset. I guess I should explain the photos." Harry started.

"I'm not mad Harry…just a little confused. You never told me you liked boys."

Harry let out a breath in relief. "Good, I am glad you aren't mad. And I never knew I liked guys either until I met Brent. But I don't think I am gay. I guess if I am drawn to someone, then I don't really care if they are male or female."

"Yeah, that makes sense. Besides, the guy in the photo was pretty damn cute." Ron heard himself admitting, blushing.

Harry grinned very wide and nodded his head.

"So, is he your boyfriend?" Ron wondered.

"No, we were pretty exclusive this summer, but we both agreed right when we met that we would not get too attached since I was leaving for Boarding School. We are only friends now, but I do miss him."

There was silence for a few moments with both boys looking off into the distance. Then Ron said quietly, "Truthfully, I am kind of sad that you didn't tell me about it." Ron lowered his eyes, "I mean, I thought you could tell me anything."

"Well it wasn't like I was trying to keep it a secret from you. I was just waiting for the right time to mention it, I guess."

At that point, they both looked over at Hermione who was walking towards them from the Broom Shed carrying one of the school's old and worn brooms. She had never bothered to buy equipment since she never really took Quidditch seriously. Plus, the only time she ever played was during the Gryffindor scrimmages where any of the official Quidditch team members were not allowed to play their actual positions. Harry enjoyed playing the other spots to see what it was like, but none of them could ever compare to the love he had for playing Seeker.

Hermione stopped when she was a bit away from them, trying to read the situation between Ron and Harry. Harry waved her over and she trotted to them with a curious grin. Harry quickly explained to her that the package was from his ex-boyfriend that he had met over the summer and that Ron had seen some incriminating photos of them together. Hermione assured Harry that she would be happy for him no matter who he decided to date and by the end of their conversation they were getting yelled at by the other House members to, _'Hurry up and come play already._' Harry promised to let both of them look through the photos at some point.

As they were jogging to the Quidditch field, Harry asked them to keep it quiet that he dated a boy over the summer. He wasn't embarrassed, but he didn't see the point of getting the entire Wizarding World riled up when he wasn't exactly gay, and who knew – he might develop a crush on a girl this year. Right before they took their brooms to the air, he told them that he was okay with the fact that some day he would probably end up being called The Boy who Bends, in the Daily Prophet, but just not yet. All three were still smiling as they greeted the rest of the scrimmage team.

**-o-O-o-**

The rest of the day, many Gryffindors were harassing poor Harry and Ron into telling them who the package was from. They also wanted to know why Ron got so upset. Even though they were not given any answers, they continued picking on them.

In the common room, all the girls were still chatting about the Quill-Pal program and guessing whom they would be matched with. Quite a few of the girls had their eye on Harry since he had shown up for seventh year with even more unruly hair, beautiful green eyes that were not hiding behind glasses, and wearing form fitting clothing that showed off his amazing Quidditch trained body. One of the girls was overheard saying, 'Sure Harry has always been cute – but if I had known he could look this handsome, I would have grabbed him up years ago!'

That night as Harry's roommates were going to bed in preparation for their first classes taking place the following morning, they were still picking on Harry and demanding to know whom the package was from. Once he even had to push Seamus away from his trunk and put a couple of much stronger, silent lock charms on it that he had learned from Dumbledore.

_-end of chapter-_

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Author's Note One: A quick thank you to Fuelled by Ramen for suggesting that Hermione make it possible for the mp3 player to work with magic. I was assuming batteries worked at Hogwarts, but they probably don't.

Author's Note Two: Also, Fuelled by Ramen pointed out that Harry's seventh year takes place in 1997. I already knew that, but then my mind forgot to relay it to my fingers as they were typing. But I think I will keep it the mp3 player. I love music and that's probably why I included it, however, one day I might consider changing the gift if it bothers everyone too much. Hopefully you are fine with me leaving it for the time being, if not, let me know. But please, don't let this stop you from bringing other things to my attention in the future!


	3. Blackmail

_-Story Disclaimer is at the beginning of Chapter One-_

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**:Chapter Three: **_**Blackmail**_

Harry was almost finished with his breakfast. He looked over his class schedule for the day. His first class was Flying with Madame Hooch. Previously, she only taught flying to the first years, but another change that happened this school year was that she now taught an extra class with many seventh years.

The only way you could get into the Flying class is if your grades were decent enough from the year before and that you wouldn't be better off having a study hall.

Harry leaned over to Ron and said, "Maybe we should buy Hermione a present since she's the only reason we did well enough last year to be able to take Flying this year." Ron grinned and nodded because his mouth was currently full of food.

If at any point during the school year your grades started to slip, the head of your House could pull you from Flying and put you in study hall or other classes that concentrate more on the end of year N.E.W.T.s.

When Ron finished eating, the boys grabbed their bags, which had their change of clothes, grabbed their brooms and then walked out of the castle towards the Quidditch Pitch.

As soon as they were on the field, Madame Hooch got their attention.

"Now class, this will be the first year that Flying is taught to Seventh Years! I am also pleased to note that all four Houses are taking this class together. Alright now. One of the things we will be learning is a series of difficult turns and spins on your brooms that Professional Quidditch players use. We will also have mock games and races among other types of flying demonstrations. There will be a gym portion in this class consisting of stretches, exercises, and running. Now, I see everyone is already wearing their work out clothing. Good. I want you to make rows of five people across so we can start some calisthenics and stretches."

The students rushed to get in line. It seemed not many people wanted to be in the front row. Harry and his friends pushed their way near the back.

Madame Hooch clapped her hands loudly. "Alright, first we are going to stretch vertically. Reach as far to the sky as you can. Hold for fifteen seconds.

"Now cross your right leg over your left. Bend down as far as you can without straining."

At this point, Harry noticed a few of the nicely shaped bums in front of him, which were mostly male. He quickly looked down while burying his face in his hands and tried to keep his grin to himself. His immediate thought was, _'Oh Brent, look what you did to me.'_

Ron noticed Harry's predicament. With a huge smile on his face he reached over and shoved Harry lightly. But because Harry's legs were crossed, he immediately fell over, causing quite a lot of laughter – mostly on his part.

"Mister Potter, would you like to do extra laps today?" Madame Hooch sternly asked.

"No ma'am!" Harry said as he got to his feet and continued with the stretching.

Almost fifteen minutes later all the students were jogging down the field around a cone that Madame Hooch had set out earlier. As soon as they returned, they took to the air for their first lessons in complex flying.

When class was over, they headed to the showers. Walking there, Harry noticed Malfoy for the first time. Ron also noticed him and said very loudly,

"Oh look, maybe with all these extra flying lessons, Slytherin might have a chance at winning the Cup this year." The Gryffindors and a few other students laughed.

Malfoy just turned around and gave his well–perfected sneer, then turned around and kept walking without comment.

"Wow," Ron said to Harry, "that was a bit odd. Usually he has something smart to say back."

"Who cares." Harry followed.

As they entered the building, the girls walked off towards the female locker room and the guys headed off towards the male locker room.

Everyone felt a little self-conscience because they had never showered with any one outside of their own House before. Plus, they were all trying to shower as fast as they could so they could hurry up and get to their next class.

Harry was washing up when he overheard Blaise Zabini asking Malfoy if he was going to fill out the Quill-Pal form.

"Of course I'm not. Don't be ridiculous. I don't need help making friends or finding a date." Was his reply. Harry and Ron looked at each other and tried not to bust up laughing.

What Harry didn't know was that the pretty blond Slytherin was checking him out from behind.

**-o-O-o-**

After the Gryffindors made it back to the castle, they immediately rushed down the stairs and into the dungeons.

Their next class was Potions with Professor Snape and the Slytherins. Harry decided that he enjoyed having his Flying class before Potions because it made him feel a bit more relaxed. Thinking back, he wished it could have been like that every year.

When they made it into the classroom, Harry noticed that Hermione had saved him and Ron a seat beside her. They walked over and sat down. Hermione launched into great detail about her first class.

"I am the first Library aide since Madame Pince has been there! I spent the entire morning shelving books, helping people research and look up articles, checking books in and out. Oh! Also, Madame Pince even taught me a couple spells to repair book binds, remove markings, and remove dog-eared creases!"

"That's great, Hermione," Harry assured her, "but I am shocked Madame Pince would ever take on a student aide. She doesn't even like any of us students being _in_ her library, much less handling her precious books."

"Well, Professor Dumbledore had a talk with her," Hermione gushed and leaned over to whisper, "besides, I think she started dating Filch recently, and that seems to have mellowed her out a bit."

"Eww!" Was the response she got from Ron, while Harry just made a disgusted looking face.

When Professor Snape walked in, everyone stopped talking.

"Get out your books and turn to chapter one." He snapped.

**-o-O-o-**

After Potions class, the rest of the day went fairly smooth for Harry. He and Ron were sitting in the common room after dinner playing Exploding Snap when Hermione walked up to them and dropped a couple of scrolls in front of them.

"Fill them out." She demanded.

"No thanks." Harry retorted while pushing the scrolls out of the way.

"Please Harry, if you don't want to reply to any of your responses, that's okay. But just give it a chance."

Harry looked up at her and said, "Please, Hermione, I really don't want to."

Grinning she replied, "Okay, but don't expect me to help you out with your homework. Oh and if you get pulled from your Flying class because your grades have drastically dropped, don't come crying to me about it."

With that said, Harry and Ron scooped up the scrolls and reached out to take the quills she was holding out. With a victorious smile on her face, she turned around and went to sit on the couch with Ginny. 'Boys,' is all you could hear her say as she shook her head.

**-o-O-o-**

With the game abruptly finished, Harry and Ron walked over to an empty table to fill out the questionnaires.

"Are you going to fill them both out or just one?" Ron asked.

"I guess both. Who knows what else Hermione would use to blackmail us with." Harry responded.

Harry looked down at the first parchment. It was the one for friendship. He glanced at the questions, which looked easy enough to answer. It took him all of five minutes to fill it out.

Then he moved onto the dating form. This one obviously had more intimate and in-depth questions.

Looking down the lengthy scroll he realized that unlike the friendship quiz, which had a bunch of boxes to check and a few short questions, this questionnaire had many blanks to fill in and huge areas to write out detailed answers. Both of their jaws dropped.

"It's like taking an exam!" Ron shouted.

"This is insane," Harry choked, "at this point, doing homework would take less time."

Glancing at the scroll, Harry read the top ten questions aloud.

"Self-esteem: How do you feel about yourself?

Appearance/Attraction: How important is physical attraction?

Entertainment, Sports, and Hobbies: What do you like to do for fun?

Past: How is your past affecting you now?

Communication: How well do you communicate verbally, visually, physically, and telepathically?

Romance: What does romance mean to you and how important is it?

Commitment and Trust: What do you want out of a relationship now?

Future: How do you see yourself in the future?

Family: What is your relationship with your family like?

Vacations: Describe your ideal vacation.

…and then even more questions about values, ethics, having children, friendships… and on and on!" Harry said disbelievingly.

Ron looked up from the parchment and glared at Hermione, who pretended not to notice.

"This has to be a joke… I mean, people _actually_ filled this out on their own free will?" Harry spewed, "Some of these questions, even_ I_ don't know the answer to."

But they started filling them out knowing that Hermione probably wouldn't let them go to sleep until they were finished.

Quite some time later, the two tired boys dropped all four quizzes into the box and practically crawled up the stairs to get ready for bed.

**-o-O-o-**

The following morning at breakfast, Professor Dumbledore stood up to make an announcement.

"Good morning students. I wanted to tell you that by Friday, your Quill-Pal mailboxes will be set up and you will each be assigned one. You will receive your letters and mailing information after supper on that same day. This is due to the fact that you should be receiving approximately eleven letters at first. I hope each of you finds at least one new friend through this exciting new program." Dumbledore gently nodded his head and sat back down.

**-o-O-o-**

That following Friday, sure enough, there were small mailboxes set up inside each of the House dorm rooms. Everyone was excited to check their mailboxes before they went down to breakfast, but they didn't know which box was theirs.

Entering the Great Hall was a chore. There was loud talking and even more moving around than usual. Most of the students were overly excited about the first letters being delivered that day.

The classes flew by and dinner time proved to be the fastest Harry had ever seen people eat and leave. Harry and Ron refused to rush upstairs to check their mailboxes – so they took their time eating dinner. After all, Harry had only filled out those forms because of Hermione blackmailing him.

By the time they finished eating, they were the two last students in the Great Hall. Passing through the Fat Lady portrait, the common room was almost empty. Upon entering their dorm room they noticed the blank mailboxes now had each one of their names on them.

Harry went up to his and asked Seamus, "How do I open it?"

"Touch your wand to the box and say your name. I think they have been spelled to know our wands and voices. You are the only one who can reach inside your mailbox. So even if you wanted someone to pick up your mail for you at some point, they physically can't." Seamus said.

"Thanks." Harry said as he touched his wand to his box and stated his name.

The door opened and he took his stack of mail out and walked to his bed.

The first thing he noticed was a small official looking note card which read:

**-o-O-o-**

Dear Student,

Thank you for participating in the new Quill-Pal program.

I want to give you some basic information.

First, each of the letters you have received today will have a code to reply to.

Each student has many code numbers assigned to them. This way you cannot compare the numbers with any of your friends or try to guess who you are writing to. The owls know all of the different codes and will deliver the mail to the correct person.

Second, I strongly advise you to use a generic-handwriting spell after you start up your correspondence. This way you will not recognize the handwriting of any of your classmates and they can't recognize yours. The answers you gave on the questionnaires have already been spelled by house elves, but they will not be doing this in the future.

Third, please get to know the person through this correspondence before you decide to meet in person. This will hopefully eliminate some problems. I hope you realize that just because your answers might match or are similar, does not mean you two will get along in person.

Again, thank you for participating in this program!

Yours truly,

The Sorting Hat (penned with a Quick-Quotes Quill)

**-o-O-o-**

Harry tossed the note aside and lifted up the first parchment. It had the top five matches for friendships. It listed the things they had in common, and the few question parts that the quiz had. He briefed over them. Nothing really caught his eye. He was starting to wish he didn't fill out the stupid forms… silently telling himself that he didn't actually have to reply to anyone. Besides, no one would know it was him, Harry Potter, who refused to respond to any of them.

He picked up another parchment. This one had the three girls he most matched up with dating wise. He briefed over some of the answers. Heck, it took forever to fill out the questionnaire the first time. He didn't want to spend hours reading all six replies word for word.

The first girl he was given a grade of matching at 70 percent.

The second girl he was given a grade of 52 percent.

The third was 68 percent.

The responses weren't bad, but nothing had caught his eye yet.

He picked up the last of the responses, which were all from guys.

The first guy he was given a match grade of 75 percent.

The second, he was matched at 85 percent.

And the third, he was matched at 98 percent.

Briefing through the matches, he wondered if the Sorting Hat knew something he didn't. To believe that his best match for any girl in the school was a lousy 70 percent. And the lowest for the three guys was 75.

He glanced at the three guy's responses but only person's answers caught his eye.

Self Esteem/How do you feel about yourself: _'I feel I am at a new place in my life. While I feel good about myself, I am starting to wonder if there could be something more.'_

How is your Past affecting you now: _'I have been forced to do things and make choices that I would have never chosen for myself in different circumstances. Because of this I feel some what bitter, yet at the same time I am glad to have had those experiences because they make me who I am today.'_

What does Romance mean to you: _'Sometimes I feel like I will never find the one who completes me. Yet, I admit I am a fool for wanting to hold hands, feel butterflies in my stomach, and have soft lips pressed against mine. '_

Commitment/What do you want out of a relationship now: _'I am tired of random dating and would love to find something more than the meaningless encounters I have been having.'_

Family/How is your relationship with them: _'I have been taken care of with food, clothing, shelter. Emotionally… not so much.'_

**-o-O-o-**

And so on. It was almost as if Harry had received his own questionnaire back. It wasn't word for word what he answered, but pretty close. He almost felt an immediate connection with this person. Harry reread the answers and decided that he just might respond to this one.

**-o-O-o-**

Many floors below him, the Slytherin Common Room was quieter than usual. Draco Malfoy was lying on the couch with his back up against the side arm.

"Where is everyone, Pansy?" Draco asked.

"Probably reading their mail." She answered with a grin on her face.

"Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Well let's just say that you should check your mailbox too."

"Why, I haven't filled out any of the forms. I think this Quill-Pal thing is a bit on the silly side."

Pansy's grin started to falter, and Draco started to suspect something.

"What did you do?" He asked her.

"Um. Well, I kind of filled out your form for you."

He opened his mouth to tell Pansy off, but then quickly closed it. He thought for a few moments and then said, "Well I'm sure it doesn't matter. As soon as the Sorting Hat realized it wasn't me filling it out, he probably trashed it."

Pansy then had an evil smirk on her face and replied, "Well, I did include a note in with your questionnaire that explained that I was filling it out for you because you are too stubborn and have too much pride. I also mentioned that all the answers I gave were ones that suited you and that the Sorting Hat should realize it once he read them. And lastly, I explained that it was up to him whether or not he wanted to include you in the program – but I sincerely hoped he would."

Draco sat up and almost pushed Pansy off the couch.

"You stupid girl," he spat, "why would you do that?"

"Obviously because you are too stubborn and needed a little push." She responded while shoving back at Draco, "I am going to my room to read my responses now, I suggest you do the same since you now have nothing better to do." And she walked off, but not before she threw a victorious smile over her shoulder at Draco.

_-end of chapter-_

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Author's Note One: Doing research to find some good questions for the relationship questionnaire – I finally found the ones I used above from a site selling a book called _Intellectual Foreplay: Questions for Lovers and Lovers-to-Be. _There were many more questions, but I didn't want to list them all. Actually, the ten I listed were probably too many.

Author's Note Two: A quick thanks to my friend Mace, who actually works at a library and was able to help me give Hermione's brief description of what she does as an aide for Madame Pince.


	4. Jolt and Mischief

_-Story disclaimer at the beginning of Chapter One-_

**-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------**

**:Chapter Four: **_**Jolt and Mischief**_

Draco Malfoy's first reaction after opening his mailbox was to throw all the papers away. But Pansy was right, most of the students were busy reading their mail and really, he didn't have anything better to do. There was no one willing to entertain him.

So he was sat on his bed and started to browse through the responses he had received.

'It's obvious the mangy old Sorting Hat fell for Pansy's dumb idea...' he thought to himself.

He barely spared the friendship matches ten seconds before he crumbled them up and tossed the wads aside. Not even bothering to look at the three girl matches, he did the same. Picking up the last of the papers, he started reading through the top one's answers. After about the fifth question, he crumbled up that paper and tossed it aside.

"Well no wonder we only got a match percentage of 55." Draco said out loud as he picked up the next paper.

"Hm, I guess 70 percent is better." He commented aloud, but after reading the first few answers he crumpled up that paper as well.

With the final paper in his hand, he was surprised that he would even consider reading it since all the other ones were such a waste of his precious time. But soon after, he was shocked to find that the responses had actually grabbed his attention and he couldn't stop reading until the last answer was given.

Yet, even though all the responses peaked his interest, in his heart he knew it would never work out. So he crumbled up the last parchment and tossed it aside with the rest.

Draco's mind flooded with a secret he had never admitted to anyone. He had already fallen for someone a few years ago. Harry Potter- the pretty boy with the wild hair and attitude that made him weak in the knees. Harry never backed down from him, which was a total turn on. Harry had a dark past and yet he was still as innocent and unblemished as ever. Harry's life was threatened over and over again, and somehow he was still able to smile and joke with his friends every single day.

The defining moment when Draco realized his _hatred_ was actually pent up _lust_ was during fourth year. When Harry had battled the dragon and was painfully tossed around the rocks, bleeding, and still managed to have that determined look of confidence in his eye… Draco had a hard time concealing his erection. Then the second task, just seeing Harry in his swim trunks had practically melted him. After the third task, Draco almost rushed to comfort Harry when he heard him crying for Cedric. Luckily, at the last moment he remembered to maintain his sneer and put up his perfect Malfoy front of indifference.

Trying to shake his Golden Boy infatuation, Draco had gone on many dates over the years and even forced himself to have a couple strictly sexual relationships. Unfortunately for him, nothing he had done could shake his heavy crush.

Great, so here he was thinking about the one subject he forbade himself to dwell on. Every time he considered that this might be the last year of seeing Harry in real life – he would feel all panicky.

Snapping out of his daydream he silently punished himself for drifting so easily to those thoughts again. Clearly he remembered overhearing Harry say that there was no way he would be filling out the forms. That is the main reason why Draco himself hadn't wanted to fill them out. No one could replace Harry, no matter what. Even if the crazy Sorting Hat said he was a 98 percent match with someone else at Hogwarts. As if!

Frustrated, he grabbed his wand and launched the crumpled up parchments to the wastebasket beside his desk. Flicking the wand and muttering a spell, all the papers shredded and fell into the trash.

He decided to attempt going back to the Common Room to see if anyone was there. Once there he noticed it wasn't empty, instead was filled with many first, second, and third years. Silently remembering that the lower years could only fill out the friendship forms explained why they were done reading and replying so fast.

Draco marched up to one of the third year girls and told her to go get Pansy from the girl dorms for him. She rushed off with a look of importance on her face.

Draco glared at the kids sitting on his favorite couch until they scurried off. Then he promptly laid down with his head on the side arm.

A few minutes later Pansy appeared in front of him. She couldn't tell if he was still mad at her or not.

Draco lifted his feet up and she sat down. He put his feet in her lap. Relief washed over her face.

"So I take it you must have received some good responses, otherwise you would still be furious with me." Pansy slowly questioned.

"Not really." he retorted. "Well, there was this one form that grabbed my attention, but not enough. In the end it got shredded like the rest."

"Oh Draco. You are so arrogant. I don't see the harm in responding to him."

"_Him_? How do you know it was one of the boy forms?"

"Oh please. You told me you were gay years ago! Besides, I know you have been crazy in lust for a particular raven haired boy for years now."

"What! I never told you about that."

"You didn't need to. Almost the entire school wants to bed you. If you would have fallen for anyone else in school, you could have already had them. He's the only one who makes sense in this situation… unless of course you fancy a certain _red _headed --"

"Don't you dare finish that sentence!" He threatened her. "And don't be disgusting!"

After a few minutes of silence, Pansy asked, "Draco, why did you shred the one response that caught your eye?"

"Because I overheard a certain raven haired boy telling his friends he would not be filling them out."

With that said, Pansy finally knew just how deep Draco's feelings really were for the other boy.

**-o-O-o-**

The following morning, Draco noticed his mailbox was lightly glowing.

"Looks like you've got a response!" Said his roommate Gregory Goyle.

"Who cares." Replied the blond. Though a moment later he was putting his hand into the box to retrieve the letter.

Sitting on the edge of his bed he looked at the envelope and noticed it was from 1138. That was the number code from the letter he had considered writing back to last night. Draco started to crumble up the letter, but remembered the discussion with Pansy last night and stopped_. 'Oh what the hell,_' he thought.

Opening the envelope, he pulled out the letter and read:

**-o-O-o-**

"Dear 80111 (I'm not sure what else to call you),

This is a little awkward for me, because I only filled out the forms when one of my Housemates harassed me into it. However, I was genuinely intrigued by your responses. I felt that I had to write you and at least give it a shot because your answers were similar to how I feel. Plus, something about them moved me. None of the other matches interested me in the slightest.

Not sure where to go from here. Though, I must say that one of your answers on the questionnaire made me laugh. The question: What do you like to do for fun? You answered, _'I like to push rules and see how far I can go before getting into trouble. Oh and I adore Quidditch.'_

I can relate. After so many years of bending rules, I think I get a small jolt of thrill from it - although I would never admit such a thing out loud.

Originally, I did want to ask what House you are in. But thinking on it now, I would rather not discuss something that has a potential to start us off holding grudges.

Hope to hear from you soon,

1138

PS. I, too, adore Quidditch.

**-o-O-o-**

Draco started to crumble up the letter, but remembered his discussion with Pansy last night and stopped. 'Oh what the hell,' he thought. He walked over to his desk and wrote a quick reply.

Dear Jolt,

I must admit that I was also intrigued by your responses last night. And just like you, I was forced into this pen-pal program by a Housemate. Your harassing friend wouldn't happen to be female? Mine was. It scares me how well she can scheme.

Yes, I do enjoy the thrill of pushing limits as much as you it seems. And I agree that we don't need to discuss our Houses. Although, from your letter I have a feeling you might be in Slytherin.

Talk soon,

Mischief

**-o-O-o-**

With that done, Draco dropped the envelope into the mail slot and marched into the Common Room. When he saw Pansy, he demanded that she tell him every answer she gave for him on the Relationship questionnaire.

"I was wondering when you would ask." She said as she pulled a paper from her back pocket. "I copied them just incase you wanted to know. But I must say, I am curious why, since you shredded all the responses last night."

"Let's just say that I received an interesting letter in my mailbox this morning." He replied as they walked up the stairs towards the Great Hall.

**-o-O-o-**

Sitting in the Great Hall, Harry Potter was a bit glum. Waking up to a glowing mailbox, he had let himself get too excited. But nope, there were no responses from his mystery guy. All the responses he got that morning were from the friendship list, his female-matches, or the two guys that he wasn't interested in.

Instead of letting them be disappointed like he was with the non-response, he jotted off a quick four-liner to each of them, hoping they wouldn't be too upset. 'Thanks for your reply. I must be honest and tell you that my friend harassed me into filling out the questionnaires. While I appreciate your reply, I am not as interested in this program as most. But I wish you luck with your other responses.'

**-o-O-o-**

Across the room, Draco looked up to steal a quick glance of Harry. Right then he decided he was glad he had given a response to Rule Bender. If anything, he could use a distraction to take his mind off his crush… and hopefully his Rule Bender was even half as attractive as his Harry was.

**-o-O-o-**

As the Gryffindor trio were eating breakfast, Hermione was busy asking everyone about their matches and responses.

"What about you Harry, did you get any good matches?"

"Um, well there was one form that I liked enough to reply to, but I didn't get a response yet. I guess the feeling wasn't mutual." He sulked.

"What was your highest match percent?" He was asked.

"My highest was a 98."

Suddenly his friends sitting near him were all in choruses of 'What!' 'That high?' 'Ninety-eight, Wow!' and so on.

Neville quickly said, "That's the highest I've heard yet. A few of our Housemates have scored into the nineties as well, but nothing past 95 percent."

"I'm sorry you haven't gotten a response yet," Hermione offered, "maybe they were busy with homework or something."

Harry just shrugged. "So tell me about your matches." He said to her.

"Well there were a few that I replied to. Two guy matches and one… girl match." She started to blush.

All her friends looked at her in shock, but quickly replaced it with smiles.

"Let's finish eating and then we can go outside to the lake, and I will tell you about the matches I replied to." Ron suggested.

**-o-O-o-**

Draco had barely overheard the Gryffindors talking about someone's match of 98. They weren't very loud, but he heard it because he was already paying attention to what was going on over there in the land of lions.

Draco shook his head and thought to himself, _'It looked like they were talking about Harry having a match, but I know for a fact he didn't answer the forms. I wonder if… NO! Stop fantasizing before I decide to ask Millicent Bulstrode on a date as punishment.'_ He warned himself with a nasty look on his face.

Pansy noticed the look he was giving. "Hey," she said while patting his back, "is something wrong?"

"No, of course not." He said, sitting up straighter. "Hurry up and finish eating so we can go for a walk around the lake."

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Author's Note: An easy way to remember who is who:

Jolt is Bolt (as in lightening).

Mischief is Malfoy.

And no, I didn't plan it that way (promise), it just happened on it's own.

Oh and the nickname Jolt is from the first letter Harry wrote to Draco.

'_I think I get a small _jolt_ of thrill from it.' _

I didn't want to keep using numbers since that would be too confusing, and jolt is one of the first words that grabbed my attention when I was choosing a nickname.


	5. Muggle Ball

_-Story disclaimer at the beginning of Chapter One-_

Author's Note: I wanted to touch briefly on a comment I received about Chapter 4.

"_Why oh why did you make Draco have to like Harry already?_"

**My response:** Originally, I had intended for Harry and Draco both to hate each other. That was the plan.

However, as I was writing, the story wasn't going in that direction.

I even pondered this for a couple days - and asked my friend Mace what she thought.

I wasn't sure if I should rewrite certain chapter parts to make them hate each other (like I intended), or continue with how it was coming out.

Mace told me to let my fingers do the typing and just let the story happen. So I apologize if you think I took the easy way out. I was a bit disappointed also, at first.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

**:Chapter Five: **_**Muggle Ball**_

"Oh bloody hell," Draco said when he noticed the Gryffindor gang walking out of the castle. "I should have known coming outside on such a nice day wouldn't be a good idea."

Draco and his Slytherin counterparts were sitting outside by the lake, under the largest tree. Some of them were smoking, some were making out, there was even one guy pulling out a bit of parchment to start taking bets.

"Alright, this should be a good one," said Graham Pritchard. "Every time they play this muggle game, I almost wish I could join in." He said while Blaise Zabini threw an orange at him, which hit him in the shoulder.

"Uugghhh," commented Draco, "I hate this stupid muggle game. Why can't they play some wizarding games instead?" But in truth, he didn't hate watching them play. It was the exact opposite. Watching all these boys get sweaty and playing with their shirts off really made his day. Heck, even a few of the girls played in revealing bathing suits. He was secretly pleased that he decided to come to the lake today.

About thirty away, the pack of lions were setting up camp. Hermione started transfiguring parts of the grass into a giant sand box. And Harry was setting up the net with quick flicks of his wand.

Neville walked over to Hermione and asked, "Did you tell the house elves to bring us out some snacks and drinks?"

"Of course I _asked_ them. We've been playing volleyball for years, I know the drill. Anyway, they said they would bring everything out as soon as possible."

When Hermione was finished making the sandbox, she lifted up a very small box and enlarged it from it's current shrunken form. Then she opened the top and pulled out some fabric, umbrellas, and round lids. She changed them into round tables with huge shaded umbrellas and nice soft chairs. There were a handful of tables now sitting on the side of the volleyball court.

"Let's make the teams now," Harry said, taking charge. Immediately the people who wanted to play started to walk over and stand in front of him. There were even handfuls of students from Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw who usually joined in to play or watch.

"Alright, without looking at your friends, make your wand shoot out a color. Either violet, orange, brown, or gray. No cheating! Do it Now." Suddenly small sparks of color were eliminating from everyone's wands. "Now remember your color. Violet go stand there, Brown over there, orange back there, and gray over here. Don't forget your teams. Violet will be playing Orange first."

Because they had been playing volleyball together for years, they all basically knew what to do. Everyone magicked their shirts with their team color. The guys who had already taken off their shirts had a huge dot placed on their back and chest in the team color.

Some of the muggle children that were taught to play sports in their earlier schooling years started playing volleyball during the summer and spring at Hogwarts. Quite a few of the wizarding kids took an interest and asked to be taught how to play. Every now and then even a Slytherin or two might join in.

Dobby the House Elf appeared with a couple trays of drinks. "Harry Potter, sir, Dobby is bringing out the drinks and sandwiches which you request."

"Thanks Dobby. Did you spell everything to stay cold?"

"Yes, sir, it is Dobby's pleasure." With that, he left.

The first two teams to play were the Orange team, whose captain was decidedly Ron, and the Violet team whose chosen captain was Susan Bones of Hufflepuff.

**-o-O-o-**

Watching the teams pair up, Draco told Graham Pritchard to put him down for ten Galleons for the gray team.

**-o-O-o-**

Quite some time later, the first two teams were finished playing and panting as they left the court.

"Every year, I love this muggle ball game more and more!" Exclaimed Terry Boot from Ravenclaw, who was on Ron's winning Orange team.

"Alright Brown and Gray, it's our turn," Harry said, "brown on that side, gray over here."

The Brown team chose Ernie Macmillan from Hufflepuff as their captain. The Gray team chose Harry. The Gray team won the coin toss to serve first.

Harry's team huddled up on their side of the net. "Okay," he said, talking low, "everyone remember the rules and how to play? Good. I want you three to take the front line and us three will be in the back. Justin, you serve first."

After about fifteen minutes of rough play in the sun, Harry went to pull off his sweat soaked shirt and threw it onto the grass. Many of the people watching from the shaded tables were definitely taking notice. Hermione looked up from her book she was reading after she heard a few sighs, and shook her head before she went back to reading.

Seamus Finnigan, who had played for the Violet team, was not even trying to hide the fact that he was enjoying the scene. He walked over to the balled up shirt that Harry threw from the court, and picked it up with his left hand and carried it back to the tables. He pretended to smell the shirt with a lustful look on his face as his free hand held his heart. Everyone watching laughed. Well, almost everyone.

Draco had seen this action take place from the tree he was sitting at. He was not thrilled at all and made a jealous face.

Pansy leaned over and said, "Don't let it bother you. Besides, he's a total flirt towards everyone."

**-o-O-o-**

After the second match, in which the Gray team had won, they all took a break to eat and get drinks. Harry sat down at the first empty chair. Seamus grabbed Harry's shirt from the tabletop and tossed it underneath in the hopes that he wouldn't see it and put it back on.

"You played a good game, Harry." Seamus announced.

"Thanks, the whole team played well." He returned while eating a sandwich.

"Um, I was wondering if you were planning on going to Hogsmeade two weekends from now…"

"Yeah, I had planned on it." Harry answered.

"Do you want to stop and get a butterbeer at The Three Broomsticks with me?"

Harry swallowed his last bite and looked at Seamus closely. He hadn't really taken notice of his looks the past few years considering that they were friends and how often do you look at your friends with fresh eyes? Seamus had definitely grown up and was pretty cute now. He was always fun to hang out with, made him laugh often, and Harry couldn't think of a time that he didn't really enjoy his company.

"You mean just the two of us?" Harry asked carefully.

"Yeah, just us. Like a, a date… if you want."

The people all around them were looking at them in interest to see what his response would be.

"Yeah, sure." Harry accepted. It wasn't like he had gotten a response from his Quill-match, anyway.

"Great!" Said Seamus, "We'll plan a time to meet up later."

When everyone had finished with their breaks, the Gray team and Orange team took to the court.

Harry and Ron, as opposing captains, shook hands. Unlike Quidditch, Harry didn't always win, so it was fun to see who would come out on top this time. The Slytherins were watching from their shade and looking very excited. They loved anything on which they could place a bet.

Both teams played excellently, but Harry's team came out on top. Smirking, Draco announced, "Shame on all of you who bet against Gray. Now pay up."

**-o-O-o-**

After the game, everyone went back to their Houses to shower. When Harry stopped in his room to grab his clothes, he noticed his mailbox was glowing. He reached inside and pulled out the letter.

Smiling, he sat down to send off a quick response.

Dear Mischief,

I almost thought I wouldn't be hearing from you. Glad that I was wrong.

As for the Slytherin comment, you are close but not correct. Maybe I will explain what I mean later.

I can't write much, I just came inside from playing sports and need to shower.

A quick question – What are your favorite classes? Mine are definitely Defense Against the Dark Arts and Flying.

Sweatily yours,

Jolt

**-o-O-o-**

The news of Harry accepting the date at Hogsmeade finally made it's way to the Dungeons, later that evening.

"Look on the bright side. Now we know he's at least bisexual." Pansy stated.

"No, the bright side would be him announcing he's into guys without actually going on any dates. But I'm over it. I'm going to check my mail." He said while hopping off his favorite Common Room couch.

Entering his dorm room, he noticed his mailbox glowing and read the newest letter.

His heart started thumping when he read that Jolt had played sports today. _'Calm down,'_ he thought_, 'there were also people playing Quidditch and even a group playing water sports in the lake... not just volleyball.'_ He told himself. Sitting down, he replied:

Dear Jolt,

Of course I was planning on writing you back. Glad to hear you enjoyed your day in the sun. I spent most of the day outside too, but didn't participate in any games.

To answer your question, my favorite classes are Potions and Flying. Hmm. So you're in the new Flying class too? I guess that answers which year you are in.

My question to you: How long have you known you liked guys? Have you ever had a serious relationship with a guy?

Un-sweatily regards,

Mischief

**-o-O-o-**

At dinner that night Dumbledore stood up to make an announcement.

"Students, I hope you had a good first week back at school and a good weekend so far. I just wanted to update you on two changes that have been made. First, I didn't realize how many letters were going to be exchanged with the Quill-Pal program. In just one day, it seems there is too much work for the owls plus we have had a couple issues finding enough owls to deliver regular mail. To fix this problem, I have spelled the mailboxes to automatically transfer the letters. It is quicker and much more efficient this way.

"Second, I want to announce that the Seventh Year students will be allowed to take trips to Hogsmeade once a month instead of once a Season. However, if your grades are low or slipping, you will not be allowed to go until they rise. Enjoy the rest of your weekend."

The Seventh Years were excited, but all the lower grades weren't too thrilled about the last announcement.

Barely listening to the old man's announcements, Draco was coming into some revelations. Watching the Gryffindor table, he noticed how Seamus was overly flirting with Harry.

Pansy noticed this and leaned over. "You're way better for Harry than he is." She whispered.

Nodding, Draco decided that if the average-looking, overly flirty, Gryffindor slut could have a chance with Harry, there was a possibility that he could as well. He formulated a plan in his mind. Then he waited for the green-eyed beauty to leave his table.

He didn't have to wait much longer. Harry got up with a few of his friends to leave. Trailing them were Draco and Pansy. As they neared the doors, Draco slammed into Seamus.

"Didn't see you there." He said, while giving one of his best smiles. Then turning, he said, "So, Harry, I see you're taking the new Flying class. Think it will improve your skills?"

Not giving Harry a chance to respond, Ron said, "Harry doesn't need to improve. But I can see why _you_ need to take the extra classes."

Everyone laughed except Harry who said, "At least he'll be more of a challenge this year. I'm actually looking forward to it."

Draco gave his cutest smirk and turned around to walk to the Dungeons with Pansy.

Walking towards the stairs leading to Gryffindor tower, Seamus said, "Did he call you –"

"Yeah, yeah, he did." Said Harry looking a bit confused.

_-end of chapter-_

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**Author Note One**: Students grade 3 through 7 visit Hogsmeade a few times a year (once for every Season). I am taking liberties giving the 7th years a once-a-month trip.

**Author Note Two**: There are around 1000 students at Hogwarts (according to Wikipedia). I mention this so you won't wonder why Draco doesn't easily figure out who his match is from the Flying class. There could be 50 or more students taking the class, and I can't guarantee that there is only one Flying class. There could be a few (I haven't decided yet).

**Author Note Three**: When Draco bets 10 Galleons, he's betting approximately $100 on the Gray team. Money conversion:

1 Galleon £5.12 $9.30 (approx)  
1 Sickle £0.30 $0.57 (approx)  
1 Knut £0.01 $0.02 (approx)

This ties in with information given by JK in an interview where she said that a Galleon was worth approximately £5 (conversion taken from Mugglenet).

**Author Note Four**: Yes, I realize that outdoor sand volleyball generally only has two players on each team… but I wanted six players (like a typical indoor volleyball game). Also, you should go rent_** Top Gun**_ and watch it. I like to pretend that Maverick is Harry and the Ice Man is Draco. Yummy. There is even a sand volleyball match in the movie. So much sexual tension between those two. If you agree – leave me a message! Go.rent.now!


	6. Footsies

_-Story Disclaimer at the beginning of Chapter One-_

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**:Chapter Six: **_**Footsies**_

It had been over a week since the students were back at Hogwarts. The start of the new school year was going well. A lot of the students had new friends to spend time with. People were finally making good friends outside of their Houses. Some were even meeting new people from inside their own House.

So far, no one had admitted to meeting up with any of their Quill matches. The only ones having met were from the friendship questionnaires.

Today was Sunday and tomorrow started classes again.

After eating breakfast Harry was sitting in the Common Room trying to block out Hermione. She was busy was lecturing the boys for leaving their homework to do until the last day.

"Why do you two always wait until the last minute to do your homework or study for exams? You had Friday night, all day Saturday-"

"And now Sunday." Ron cut her off. "Really, Hermione. At least we are setting aside time to do it later!"

"Yeah, you'll give yourself about half an hour before you go to bed tonight! I know how you two are." She chastised. "Come to the library with me and we will do it now. That way you can have your whole afternoon and evening free."

Harry and Ron looked at each other and shrugged their shoulders. Then they ran up stairs to grab their books. Seamus stopped them on their way and asked if he could join.

"Um, sure." Harry responded.

So the three of them met up with Hermione in the Common Room a few minutes later.

On their way down to the library, Harry put his arm around Hermione's shoulders. He slowed their walk so the other two would get ahead of them.

"Something wrong Harry?" Hermione asked him.

He leaned over and talked low. "Well, nothing is wrong, but there is something I wanted to talk to you about."

She gave him a questioning look. "What is it about?"

"It's about Seamus. When he asked to come to the library, shouldn't I have felt excited or glad? Instead, I almost wanted to tell him no."

"I see. Well I think that it is too soon for you to be deciding things. That's what dates are for… so you can get to know someone better and _then_ decide if you want to be with them or not."

"Yeah, you're right. I guess I haven't really given him a chance."

"Is there anything else on your mind, Harry?" She asked, but by then they were entering the library and had to stop their conversation.

The foursome walked to a table in the back. It was actually Hermione's usual table because she doesn't like to be distracted when she works.

Hermione sat next to Harry. Seamus sat across from him. They all pulled their homework out of their bags and got to work. About five minutes later, Harry felt something rubbing up against his foot. He was too busy writing to really pay much attention. But a few minutes after that, he started to feel something going higher up his leg. That definitely grabbed his attention.

He pulled his legs closer to his own chair and hoped that solved the problem.

"Harry, what did you put for answer twelve?" Ron asked.

"Um. I answered with Dried nettles, Crushed snake fangs, Stewed horned slugs, and Porcupine quills."

"No, that's the ingredients for the Boil-Cure Potion. We learned that in first year. Don't you remember, Harry?" Hermione asked him.

"How can he remember anything in Potions, Hermione? He's too busy being harassed by the teacher to actually learn anything." Ron answered for him.

Seamus shifted in his seat and suddenly Harry felt something rubbing his legs again. He quietly tore a bit of parchment and slipped a note to Hermione without anyone noticing. Hermione read the note. "Stacks. NOW!"

Getting the hint, Hermoine said, "Harry, come with me to the stacks and we'll get a copy of first year Potions so I can show you the Boil-Cure Potion."

"Serioulsy Hermione, he doesn't need to be re-educated in first year Potions!" Ron stammered.

But Harry and Hermione had already left their chairs and started walking towards the stacks, much to the displeasure of Ron and Seamus.

After they passed some other students and a couple of empty rows of books, Harry grabbed Hermione's arm and walked her to the very back of the stacks.

"He's rubbing my leg with his foot!" Harry announced.

"Maybe that's his way of showing affection?" Hermione guessed.

"My point is, if I had any feelings towards him in that way _at all_, wouldn't I be returning the favor instead of trying to get away? All I'm trying to say is, I'm not sure if dating him is such a good idea. I am scared of losing his friendship if this turns out badly."

She just gave him a look.

"Let me explain. When Brent asked me out during the summer, I wasn't sure about going on that date either. But after the first ten minutes I was enjoying his company, noticing how attractive he was, and when he first touched me – I got really excited. When Seamus touches me, I'm not so sure how I feel about it. That can't be a good sign."

"Look, Harry, just go on the date with him. It might take time to get over the fact that you have been strict friends for seven years."

"Yeah, okay. You're right, you always are." Harry said as he ran his hand through his hair. They started walking back to the table.

Harry sat cross-legged in the chair, which seemed to put Seamus in a bitter mood. But to make it up to him, when they were all finished with their homework and heading back to Gryffindor Tower, Harry let Hermoine and Ron get ahead of them so that him and Seamus could talk alone.

"Have you been writing anyone through the Quill-Pal?" Seamus asked him.

"Yeah, Hermione made me fill out the forms. There was one match that I have been mailing frequently." He replied.

"Oh. Is the match a boy or girl?"

"A boy."

"Looks like I might have some competition then, huh?" He said with a flirty smile.

"Yeah, I guess so." Harry answered while smiling back.

**-o-O-o-**

They made it to their dorm room and put their books away. Harry decided to respond to the letter he had gotten earlier that morning:

Dear Mischief,

Do you ever participate in sports? I know you said you like Quidditch, but maybe you mean you only like to watch it. I love all sorts of sports. I used to play a few muggle games at school before I transferred to Hogwarts. Not on a team or anything, but just during gym class.

So you like taking Potions? It is possibly my least favorite class. I can't believe that I am taking it this year. And yes, I guess we are both seventh years since we are taking the new Flying class with Madame Hooch. I am glad they decided to add it to the curriculum this year. It makes my Monday's a bit better, consider that I have Potions right after.

To answer your questions: I discovered that I liked boys this past summer (not that they were ever ruled out before… I just never gave it much thought previously). I kind of had a semi-serious relationship with a guy I met. He and I were exclusive at the time, but we both knew it wouldn't last past the summer due to me returning to school.

Not looking forward to classes tomorrow,

Jolt

**-o-O-o-**

Vincent Crabbe walked into the Slytherin Common Room to find Draco laying on his favorite couch.

"Your mailbox is glowing." He told him.

After reading the letter from Jolt, he was positive he was dealing with a Gryffindor due to the class schedules comment. _'It feels like Harry, but maybe it's just wishful thinking.'_ He thought. _'Then again, maybe not.'_ He decided to try and discretely draw out more clues.

A few minutes later, he responded:

Jolt,

Yes, I like playing Quidditch as well as watching. I have also watched people playing muggle volleyball the past few years. I have never joined in, because I think it is more fun to watch all the sweaty boys with their shirts off.

I love taking Potions. You probably don't like it due to the teacher. I have learned to deal with him and not let his negative attitude bother me. The science of Potions is really exciting. I love how everything is exact and at the end you are rewarded (if done properly).

I, too, am glad that Flying was added to the curriculum this year. Actually, there were a few courses added this year that I wish I could have been taking throughout school.

As for dating, I have dated a few guys over the years. Nothing serious. I have also taken a couple girls to the balls, but mostly just to shut my parents up when I was younger. I don't care what they think any longer. I have lost respect for my dad a long time ago and I know my mother will care for me in her own distant way, no matter what.

Since you aren't looking forward to classes, let's skip them and make out under the bleachers all day.

Yours,

Mischief

PS. No more talking about being sweaty and taking showers unless you plan on finding a way to cure my 'excitement.'

**-o-O-o-**

Many floors above the Slytherin Dungeons, Neville Longbottom was trying to get Harry's attention. Harry was in the middle of playing a card game with Ron, Seamus, Dean, and Ginny Weasley.

"Did you want to play Neville?" Harry asked when he saw him standing there. "We can always deal you in next hand."

"Yeah, maybe, but first can I talk to you in private?"

"Sure." He tossed his cards down, saying, "I fold this hand."

Harry stood up and followed Neville out of the portrait hole.

"Harry, I was talking to a few people who are interested in attending D.A. meetings again."

"Really? I wouldn't have thought anyone would be interested after..."

"Well a few of us are, and I am sure there are more who would attend." Neville said, while standing up taller. "I miss it. Besides, now that the Quill-Pal program has started, it will be more fun. People now have friends outside of their own House and it would give us more opportunities to spend time together."

Harry thought there is more to it but didn't ask. Instead, he said, "Sure, let me ask around and see if there will be a group large enough to start meetings. If we do start meetings, you better back me on it when I am forced to tell Hermione. She already thinks I don't spend enough time studying for the N.E.W.T.s."

"Sure, I will." Agreed Neville.

They went back inside and Neville and Harry joined in the card game.

**-o-O-o-**

That night, before Harry went to bed, he read his latest letter from Mischief. Blushing slightly, he decided to respond. How a few simple lines could make his cheeks burn, he couldn't guess:

Dear Mischief,

I am sure my dislike for Snape has everything to do with me not liking Potions. It is easy to say 'learn to deal with him and don't let him bother you.' But the greasy git loves picking on me. I am sure it gives him pleasure like I couldn't even describe.

You seem to dislike your relatives almost as much as I loathe mine. But I have long since discovered that I will never please them. I don't even bother trying now. I am sorry to hear that your mom is distant and your dad has caused you to lose respect for him. I dream of one day having a family that truly cares about me.

As for making out under the bleachers, I hope one day we will be able to. I love kissing. I am not sure how I will be able to go to sleep tonight now that you have me all excited. I am sure that my flying in class tomorrow will be distracted as well. So thanks a lot.

Three hours from now I will be awake staring at my canopy,

Jolt

PS. :grins:

_-end of chapter-_

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Author Note: Big hugs to you for reading.

Just to inform you - I am in the middle of a move, have fallen behind on work projects. Plus, I will be going to Las Vegas at the end of this month to attend Lumos 2006 (HP convention)... _and_ I still need to sew my Hogwarts skirt for that.


	7. Before Barrage

_-Story disclaimer at the beginning of Chapter One-_

Authors Note One: I hope you like the flow so far. Someone mentioned that my writing style is awkward. I don't take it as an insult. I am glad that the person told me. If I can improve, that is a good thing. If you agree with them - feel free to email me with suggestions on how to change it.

Authors Note Two: To reply to another comment - I don't mean to make Harry naïve. Sorry if it comes off that way. I just don't think Harry is trying to figure the match out. I think he's is just letting things happen on their own.

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**:Chapter Seven: **_**Before Barrage**_

Draco was still awake on Sunday night when he got Jolt's last letter. Grinning, he debated responding right then. He wasn't sure if that would be a good idea or not. If he responded, he was sure to keep Jolt awake all night, but if he didn't respond – Jolt might assume that he was already sleeping and possibly fall asleep himself. Eventually he decided to reply the next morning.

His plan of getting clues seemed to be working. If this was Harry, he was too innocent for his own good. So far, everything Jolt had responded with was easily connected to Harry. But again, it could be easily connected to many other students as well. Thinking of this, he eventually drifted off to sleep.

**-o-O-o-**

The next morning at Flying class, Draco was trying to get more clues. When the group was running, it was hard to tell anything, since Harry was way ahead of him. Harry seemed to take anything physical, seriously… which gave him high hopes for later.

Once they all took to the air, Draco caught himself watching Harry again. _'Does he look distracted? Gahhh. I can't tell. He always looks happy when he's on his broom.'_

He simply couldn't read him and decided to leave the sleuthing for later.

Potions class should have been a bit more fun – but it seemed that Seamus was going to follow the Golden Boy around flirting with him now. Seamus kept finding ways to pat Harry on his back or touch his arm while preparing the ingredients for the batch of potion they were making and it was making Draco slightly shake from fury.

When class was almost over, everyone started putting away their supplies. Draco timed it so he could follow Seamus into the supply closet. Tripping him, Seamus dropped some of the bottles, causing them to break. Seamus now had to serve detention every night that week. Draco could have hugged Professor Snape.

While the students were leaving Potions class, Harry's books fell out of his bag. Telling his friends to go on to lunch without him, he stopped to pick them up.

Someone was stacking his parchments and folders and handed them to him. Looking up he saw Malfoy. He was sure he had a surprised look on his face because Malfoy handed him the stack of papers and said, "Why so shocked? Don't you know people grow up, Harry?" And with that, Harry was left alone zipping up his bag.

**-o-O-o-**

Sitting at the Slytherin table, Draco thought back on helping Harry. The only reason he made the bag fall open was so he could look at the papers and see if he recognized any of them as Jolt and Mischief's letters. But he didn't see any letters at all. The good thing, is that this also helped part of his plan. 'If Jolt _is_ Harry,' he thought, 'I want him to be comfortable around me when we first meet.'

Watching the door, he saw Harry finally enter the Great Hall.

Harry sat down next to Ron and started putting food on his plate.

"Some of those moves we're learning in Flying class are amazing!" Ron said through his half-full mouth.

"Yeah, too bad Slytherin is learning them also." Harry responded while glancing over at the Slytherin table. He noticed Malfoy was looking at him. Harry silently wondered what he was up to… it had to be something. Then Harry looked away.

"How is your aide class going, Hermione?" Harry asked her.

"Oh, I just love it! Today not many students were in the library though. It gave me time to respond to my Quill-matches. And I shelved books too. You won't believe this, but I think I saw Madame Pince hugging Filch before she came into the library this morning."

The boys made looks of disgust.

"Aw, I don't know. It's kind of cute that two mean-spirited people can manage to look so happy with each other." Hermione said.

At that point, owls were swooping into the Great Hall to deliver mail. Hedwig dropped off a letter before getting petted and taking off again.

Opening it, Harry read:

Hello Harry. I am glad to finally hear from you. I hope your school term has been going well. Mine has been pretty good so far. Thank you for the candy you sent. I have never tasted chocolate like that. Where did you ever find it? The package said Honeydukes, but I have never heard of that brand before.

I am enclosing a few photos. You know that Photography is my main focus in school, which is why I take so many. I even included a couple of us from a few weeks ago - from a roll I didn't realize I had taken. I miss you but am glad that we are staying friends. I hope you will take some photos of you at your school for me.

Brent

**-o-O-o-**

Harry pulled the photos from the envelope, glad this time that he was the first to see them. The first few photos were beautiful photos of buildings and landscapes. The last couple photos were of Harry and Brent. Nothing too exciting since they spent the last few days of their time together trying to be just 'friends'. The photos were pretty safe.

Ron looked curious, so Harry handed him the photos. Soon after they were looked at by most of the kids near them. When Seamus saw the photos, he exclaimed, "Who is this, Harry? He's so pretty that I would consider giving him half my magic if he could attend this school. Is this your cousin?" He asked hopefully.

"No, that's my ex." Harry told Seamus who frowned and muttered something like, 'Well, not the _prettiest_ boy I've ever seen…"

"What do you mean, your ex?" Ginny asked while flipping through the photos.

"I dated him all summer, but now we are just friends." He told her.

The next thing Harry knew, the photos were being passed from person to person. Harry asked for them back, but then a Ravenclaw girl accio'd them to her table and they were being passed around there. Harry walked over to the table and tried to get the photos back, but before he could – Blaise stood up and took them out of a girl's hand.

Before Blaise could finish looking at them, Draco reached over and took them out of his hands. He viewed each photo before Harry had made his way over to him.

"Hand them over." Harry demanded.

"Weird, Potter. It's spooky that muggle photos don't move." Draco replied.

"Give them back." Harry said again.

"What will I get if I do?" Draco teased.

"Nothing. Now hand them over." He said while holding out his hand.

"But that's no fun. There's nothing in it for me."

Harry tried to grab them out of Malfoy's hand, but Malfoy put his hand underneath the table and out of reach. Harry was fuming now.

"Aw, Potter. Calm down. Just answer this: Who is the guy in the photos?"

"Me. Now give them back."

"No, the other guy.."

"My ex, Brent."

"So you had a summer fling with a boy?"

Harry just looked at him, growing even more furious.

"Calm down Potter. I'm not making fun. Just curious."

Harry nodded and Draco held out the small stack of photos; minus one picture that Draco wanted to keep for himself. Harry cautiously went to take them. Their fingers touched and lingered for a moment considering Draco didn't let the photos go at first. Eventually he did and Harry stormed off to his table with them.

Draco would have held out for something much better than a silly answer, but he noticed McGonagall looked as if she was about to interfere. But he still smiled internally. That was another clue! Jolt said he dated a guy over the summer but was single now.

'_I can't believe I had doubts that my match was Harry.'_ He thought. _'Truthfully no one else at this school could possibly be good enough for me – the Sorting Hat must know what he's doing.' _Draco smirked while he ripped Brent out of the picture and stuffed the non-moving photo of Harry into his pocket.

**-o-O-o-**

After all the classes for the day, Harry was sitting with Hermione in the library doing homework. Actually, she was doing her homework and he was about to read his newest letter from Mischief. But before he could unfold the parchment, Hermione asked, "So tell me how things are going with your Quill match."

"Pretty good so far. We have a lot in common and things are starting to get… interesting." He replied. "What about you? You last said you were writing two guys and a girl. How are things coming along?"

"Oh, I am only writing two people now. There is something about the guy though… haven't been able to put my finger on it. And the girl, well I'll just say that things are coming along nicely." She said while grinning.

"Good, I am glad to hear it."

"Have you figured out who you are writing to yet, Harry?"

"No, why would I do want to do that?"

"Most people are trying to guess who their matches are before they meet up."

"Well not me. I'm too busy learning about him than wasting time guessing who he is."

"You're not curious at all?"

"I'll find out eventually, won't I?"

Hermione nodded her head and went back to doing homework. Harry opened the letter and read it. Then he replied:

Dear Mischief,

It's fine that you didn't respond last night. I realize that us seventh years are busy doing homework, studying, and sleeping. Not much free time this year. Actually, right now I am in the library 'doing homework' with a friend. Yeah, right… I'll get to it eventually.

You asked me if I have been having a good year so far. Well school has only been in session for a little over a week. Everything seems the same as last year, except we have been getting way more homework to do.

Oh and I just remembered this. Another different thing this year is that my biggest enemy at this school has been acting kinda nice to me. I can't tell why but I have a feeling he's up to something sneaky. Even today he was nice and helped me out with something. Very odd.

You never told me what you did over the summer? Are you planning on going home over Winter Break?

Going to start on my homework now since my study buddy is giving me the evil-eye,

Jolt

**-o-O-o-**

After Harry folded up his letter to Mischief, he dared a glance up at Hermione.

"What?" He asked.

"I didn't invite you here to goof off. You really should be concentrating on your homework, Harry."

"I'm going to start it in a minute. Promise. But, answer this first – when do you plan on meeting your matches?"

"Well I meeting the guy at Hogsmeade. Although, most matches seem to be waiting until the Hufflepuff Party or Halloween Party to meet up."

"When is the Hufflepuff Party?" He asked.

"The second week in October – a few weeks before the Halloween Party."

"Oh okay. Should be fun." He answered and then opened his book to start his first essay of the night.

**-o-O-o-**

The next two weeks passed by quickly and the weekend that all the upper years were looking forward to – finally arrived. Tomorrow was the first trip into Hogsmeade.

Everyone was looking forward to it. A few of the students were going to meet up with their matches, including Hermione. But most of the gossip taking place was about Harry's date with Seamus and how everyone thought it would go.

Harry woke up and reflected on the school year so far. Things were going good. His classes were going well, even in Potions he seemed to be improving a bit. Mostly because of his discussions with Mischief, he was trying not to let Snape bother him as much. Speaking of Mischief, their letters were getting to be the highlight of his days. Harry never felt like this with anyone before. He definitely had a growing crush on him and couldn't wait to meet up. Their letters were getting more and more intense and they would sometimes stay up until well after Midnight writing each other. They decided to wait and meet up. Harry would have loved to meet up tomorrow, but he knew he had his date with Seamus. He was honest with Mischief and explained that he had accepted the date before they started writing each other. Of course, he didn't say whom the date was with. Harry had decided to give Seamus a fair shot, even though he still wasn't sure about their relationship going past being friends.

As Harry heard his roommates getting up, he gathered his stuff and followed them into the showers. After that, they all headed down to the Great Hall for breakfast. Harry pulled Seamus aside.

Grinning, Seamus said, "Hey Harry, I'm glad it's Friday. I'm really looking forward to tomorrow, how about you?"

"Yeah. That's actually what I wanted to talk to you about –"

"Don't worry about talking now, we'll catch up tomorrow, okay?" Seamus interrupted while trying to not look worried.

"Sure, tomorrow."

"Let's meet up at The Three Broomsticks at 11am. Sound okay? That will give us enough time to shop around first."

"See you then." Harry said as they entered the Great Hall. Harry went over and sat by Ron and Hermione. Seamus went to sit next to his best friend, Dean.

Dean looked at him and asked, "Things still set for tomorrow?" While shifting his eyes to Harry.

"Yes! How about you? You said you had a date tomorrow too?" Seamus questioned.

"Uh huh. I am meeting my top Quill-match tomorrow. Should be fun."

Hermione over heard this and said, "I am meeting up with one of my matches tomorrow also!" She never noticed Ron's eyebrows lifting or the weird look he was giving her.

The rest of the day breezed by. That night, hardly any of the upper years could fall asleep. Of course, it was much easier for Harry and Ron because Hermione nagged them into doing their homework so they would have the weekend free. Harry wasn't as upset about this as Ron was; he was just glad to have something to take his mind off of tomorrow.

**-o-O-o-**

The following morning Harry was woken up by Hermione's screams, which sounded as if they were coming from the Common Room. He ran down the stairs to see what the commotion was. Upon entering, he was mostly confused and a little shocked at the sight that greeted him.

_-end of chapter-_

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Authors Note One: Yes, I realize that the Owls deliver mail during breakfast and not lunch. Taking liberties here! Also, Harry got the Honeydukes chocolates he sent to Brent through mail order.

PS: I'm not sure if I mentioned this or not, but I just moved. My gas got cut off on accident a couple days ago. Anyway, I wanted to thank my friend Mace for letting me take a hot shower at her place yesterday. Today I had to take a freezing shower… brrrrr! It was colder than a garden hose.


	8. Chock Full

_-Story disclaimer at the beginning of Chapter One-_

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**:Chapter Eight: **_**Chock Full**_

Waking up early on Saturday - Hermione had a sudden thought. She jumped up from her bed and quickly wrote something down. When she was finished she put the parchment into her mailbox. She sat in her dorm room staring at her mailbox, waiting for the reply. A few minutes later she took the new paper from her glowing mailbox.

'_Yes, those are my initials. Yours wouldn't happen to be HG? If so, meet me in the Common Room immediately.'_

Hermione ran down the stairs into the Common Room and as soon as she saw Ron, she lunged herself into him for a hug. They were both laughing so hard tears started to form. You would almost think they accidentally ate something from the Weasley twins.

The people that were already in the common room didn't know what to think. The two people in the middle of the room were laughing like hyenas. Or were they crying like Moaning Myrtle? It was hard to tell when both bodies were shaking and the noise could be either laughter or sobbing. At that point, Harry and a few other late-waking Gryffindors were watching from the bottom of the stairs.

"Y..you..you're my match?" Ron barely got out.

"I can't believe we've been secretly writing to each other for almost a month." She said, pulling away to look at him.

"I can't believe the Sorting Hat thought we were a good match." He replied.

"Yeah well, if we both wanted to spend the rest of our lives constantly arguing with our lovers, we would be perfect. But that doesn't sound very appealing to me."

"Me neither." Ron said while rolling his eyes.

"Friends?" Hermione offered while sticking her hand out.

"Only friends!" Ron agreed while putting out his hand to shake on it.

They both smiled at each other and gave a quick hug. Most of the Gryffindors that were following along with the dialog were now giggling at the thought of Hermione and Ron together as more than friends.

"What?" Hermione asked. "It's not that funny!" She exclaimed, but it only made her and Ron laughing that much more.

**-o-O-o-**

Sitting down at breakfast, Ron was telling Hermione that he knew they were paired up long before she did.

"Last night at dinner, you said you were meeting up with your match. I had a feeling then that it was you then."

"Okay Ron, good job figuring it out." She said for the third time. "Are we still going to meet up for drinks at Hogsmeade?"

"Yeah, sure. But we're going Dutch now… Hey, that gives me more money to spend in Honeydukes or Fred and George's store!"

"Oh brother." Hermione said while covering her face with her hands. Looking back up, she asked Harry, "So what time are you meeting Seamus?"

"At eleven in The Three Broomsticks." Harry replied in between bites of chocolate chip pancakes.

"So you'll still walk with us to Hogsmeade then?" Ron inquired while piling more biscuits and gravy onto his plate.

Harry nodded and continued to eat.

Hermione started reading the Daily Prophet that a delivery owl just dropped off. She set her fork down and looked at Harry.

"What is it?" He asked as he took the paper she was holding out.

**Death Eater Returns**

Bellatrix Lestrange, former Death Eater to You-Know-Who, has been spotted

in Germany. As you know, she is the only Death Eater that wasn't cleared,

put in Azkaban, or killed after the Final Battle in which Harry Potter won.

She barely escaped during that last battle and has been on the run ever since.

---

When Lestrange was spotted, it was apparent that she was on a mission to

finish the work her mentor started. There were witnesses who said she was

spreading the word and trying to start up a new band of thugs to help her out.

How she plans to complete what a much stronger wizard could not, is beyond

us here at The Daily Prophet. If you see her anywhere, please report it to the

authorities immediately. There is a monetary reward given for all information.

---

Also, we have requested an interview with Mister Harry Potter himself.

Hopefully he will have a few words to say on this matter and you can read it

in the next few issues. Until then, be on the lookout. Reported by: Rita Skeeter.

**-o-O-o-**

Harry finished the article and looked at the evil face of Bellatrix Lestrange on the front cover. Right then an owl swooped down and dropped off a very official looking parchment by his plate. He picked it up, wadded it into a ball, and threw it at Ron.

"You ready to go?" He said while standing up. Trying not to notice most of the students now staring at him because of today's headlines, he walked out of the Great Hall briskly.

His best friends finally caught up with him outside the doors and saw him leaning up against a wall.

"Does it ever end?" Harry asked them while staring at the ground.

"I'm so sorry Harry. You shouldn't have to deal with this every year especially after what you had to go through to beat the Dark Lord." Hermione replied.

"Yeah mate. Hopefully she'll be caught soon and you won't even have to deal with any of this. Don't let it get you down." Ron said while patting Harry on the arm.

Harry looked up and smiled. "You two are the best." He said. "Now let's go to Hogsmeade."

**-o-O-o-**

After the thirty-minute walk, they arrived in Hogsmeade. The first stop was to the Weasley's Wizard Wheezes shop. As they walked in, both twins greeted Harry immediately.

"Great seeing ya, Harry!" Fred and George said together.

"Come over here and we'll show you some of our newest inventions." Harry and Ron followed them to the wall on the left. Hermione started browsing through the whole store.

Fred started, "You see this piece of candy? It allows you to put your current feelings into it. See, you hold it with your hand and say '_Excipio.' _Then you have thirty seconds to put your emotions into it-"

"Like anger, giddiness, laughter, embarrassment, lust, or anything you could possibly be feeling." George added.

"Right," said Fred who then continued, "and then you give it to someone who eats it and for thirty seconds, they actually _feel_ your emotion."

"We call it Dandy Candy." George added.

"Brilliant!" Ron added and reached out to grab a few. "Want any Harry?" He asked.

"Sure." He replied, but George was already putting a handful into his pocket for him.

After browsing through the twins' shop and buying even more stuff, they headed to Honeydukes.

There, Harry bought some chocolate frogs, chocolate-covered pretzels, and lollipops. Ron bought as much of everything as he could. Hermione left carrying a small bag of candy necklaces.

By then, it was almost eleven. The trio walked into The Three Broomsticks. Harry told his best friends to walk back to Hogwarts without him. He then spotted Seamus at a table and headed that way. Sitting down next to him, Harry put his bag on the ground.

"Hey you!" Seamus said while leaning over to pat Harry's hand. He then pulled out a small box and pushed it over to Harry.

"Hi Seamus. Oh man, I didn't even think to bring you anything. I'm sorry." He said.

"It's okay, I know how your last date at Hogsmeade went. I'm shocked you even agreed to come." He pushed the box even closer to Harry.

Harry picked it up and lifted the lid. Chocolates were inside. He smiled and Seamus shrugged.

"Thought it would be too early for jewelry. And didn't think you'd want to be carrying around flowers." He told him.

"Well thanks. I appreciate that. And thank you for the candy. The perfect gift." Harry said.

The rest of the date went well. Seamus noticed that Harry was more comfortable when they talked about regular stuff versus discussing anything relationship-wise. So they treated it as if it were a friendly gathering and not a serious date. That was fine with him, he was just glad Harry didn't cancel on him. Plus, they were the talk of the school.

After drinking two butterbeers apiece and having some appetizers, they decided to leave.

While walking back towards Hogwarts, Seamus asked Harry what he wanted to tell him yesterday morning. They both stopped walking and looked at each other.

"Oh that." Harry said. "Um, well, I just wanted to tell you that I wanted to keep our date today. But I also wanted to be honest with you and tell you that I am having issues seeing you as more than a friend. Hermione told me to give it time, but it's been two weeks and I am still having trouble-"

"So you don't think you have any feelings towards me besides friendship ones?" Seamus interrupted with a slight frown. But then it grew into a smirk as he said, "Prove it." He quickly leaned down to capture Harry's lips.

Harry was caught off guard, but allowed the kiss to happen. Seamus' lips met his and he couldn't say he was put off by it. He wasn't really enjoying the kiss but he parted his lips at the other boy's urging. Harry felt his mouth being invaded and Seamus' tongue was a bit chilly. After a few seconds, Harry gently broke off the kiss and backed away from Seamus, who then looked a bit dazed and giddy.

"So be honest with me. If you didn't feel anything there, let me know. I'll back off." Seamus promised.

"Um, okay. It didn't feel bad, but I didn't feel any sparks either." Harry answered honestly.

"Oh man, but you are such a great kisser!" Seamus said. "I only promised to back off because I was sure you felt something like I did."

"I'm sorry Seamus. I can't force myself, you know? But I would love us to stay friends - if that's fine with you."

"Yeah, of course I do." He said while patting Harry on the back. They continued walking towards Hogwarts.

They never noticed the blond haired boy down the road, behind them. When he saw Seamus kissing Harry, he pulled his wand out and aimed it towards them. But the fast-as-a-bunny Pansy removed it from his hands before he could mutter off a spell.

"Now, now, Draco. You see Harry stepping away from Seamus there? It's obvious he didn't want to participate in that. Nothing to worry about." Pansy consoled Draco.

"Hmph." Draco replied with narrowing eyes. "You should have tried out for Seeker. Now give me my wand back."

"There's no way I could have beat you during tryouts. And I'm not giving you your wand until we are back at the castle."

They started walking again and caught up with Harry and Seamus within minutes. As they were passing them, Draco turned to the two boys and nodded his head.

"Hello Harry. Goodbye Seahorse." And then him and Pansy continued walking past them. Pansy had a huge grin on her face when she looked at Harry.

After they were passed – Seamus said, "Those two are weirdos."

"Agreed." Said Harry.

**-o-O-o-**

Later that night, Harry allowed himself to think about the Lestrange ordeal. He asked Hermione to use the D.A. coins to set up their first meeting of the year. Then he pulled Neville aside and told him to start passing word to anyone who wanted to come, that the next meeting would take place in a few days.

Neville looked pleased.

_-end of chapter-_

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Authors Note One: Sorry to all of you Ron/Hermione shippers! Hope I didn't offend anyone.

Authors Note Two: Loosely translated, 'excipio' means 'capture' – at least according to an online free site, it does.

Update:_**you-go-on-my-cookie**_ told me that _Excipio_ is not the right translation for 'to capture.' Instead it should be _Cape. _Thanks for the information, but I think I will keep excipio because it looks better written down.


	9. Swap

_-story disclaimer at beginning of chapter one-_

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**:Chapter Nine: **_**Swap**_

Harry was sitting outside the castle, on the Quidditch pitch listening to the music player Brent gave him. Above him, the Hufflepuff House was having a scrimmage game. In his lap was a piece of parchment he had been staring at for half an hour.

To be honest, he was having a little bit of difficulty. It was hard wanting to pour his feelings into the letter, but not knowing which words to use. He was starting to feel strong emotions towards his Mischief. His crush on the boy was getting bigger with each letter they sent. Plus, he was starting to crave their meeting. Sighing for maybe the thirteenth time, he started writing:

Dear Mischief,

Yes, I had a nice day at Hogsmeade yesterday. Did you end up going? I hope maybe we can get together at the next one. Oh, did you hear about the party Hufflepuff is having in a couple weeks? I am not sure what House you are in (maybe it is now safe to discuss our Houses?), so you probably already know. Some of my friends are meeting their matches then. I know you said that we should wait until Halloween to meet face to face. That is fine, but let me know if you change your mind.

You asked for something personal of mine that you could carry through out the day. I am not sure what to give you. The only things I own are clothing and school supplies. I don't own any trinkets or jewelry or anything – but I have an idea for something. Just give me a couple days to get the materials and I will send it as soon as I can. What colors do you like? Also, am I getting something personal in return?!

Right now I am sitting outside watching a Quidditch scrimmage. I can't wait until Quidditch Season starts next month!

Voyeurly yours,

Jolt

PS. Are you shy in person? I ask because you flirt so much in your letters – I am curious if when we finally meet up, I will have to drag the rowdy side out of you. Hope not!

**-o-O-o-**

After Harry finally went back into the castle, he put the letter in his mailbox and it was sent off to Mischief.

Going back down the stairs, he went to the Great Hall for lunch. Putting his music player in his pocket, he sat down next to Ron.

"Where've you been all day, mate?" Ron inquired.

"Oh, I was watching the Quidditch scrimmage outside."

"I would have gone with you."

"I know. But, I woke up early and wanted to go outside. Plus, it gave me time to think about the D.A. meeting and what we should practice and learn."

"Alright. You want to go swimming in the lake today? This is probably the last good weekend before the weather starts getting cold."

"Yeah sure, that sounds good."

"Is Hermione back yet? I haven't seen her all morning either." Ron said.

"No, she'll join us later." Harry answered.

"Did I hear something about the lake?" Neville asked while sitting down.

"Yeah, you want to go?" Harry asked. Neville nodded his head and then Harry invited all the people sitting near them.

After they ran upstairs to the Gryffindor tower and grabbed their swimming clothes and towels, they went out to the lake. Swimming, racing, and a few rounds of Marco Polo found Harry drying himself off a couple hours later.

Someone tapped him on his back and he turned around.

"Hi Hermione. I missed you all day… oh wow, you look great today!" He noticed. She was standing in front of him with a cute little sundress on and her eyes stood out drastically with mascara.

"Thanks," she smiled shyly. "You didn't tell anyone that I took a trip to muggle London to buy some new things, did you?"

"Of course I didn't. Hey, did you pick up the stuff I asked about?"

"Yes, in a variety of colors. I put it in a bag under your pillow."

"Thanks Hermione."

Ron then came out of the water and grabbed his towel.

"Da..damn, Hermione!" Ron stuttered.

She just blushed.

Most of the group walked back to the castle. Harry went into his room to grab a change of clothes. He quickly looked at the bag under his pillow, peered inside, and then he headed out the door for a shower.

Returning from showering, he towel-dried his hair and tossed his towel on his bed. He noticed his glowing mailbox and took out the parchment and read:

Dear Jolt,

My favorite colors are green and blue. I also wear a lot of black. Why do you want to know? What are your favorite colors? Thanks for going out of your way to give me something to carry around. And of course, I am planning on sending you something as well.

Yes, I did go to Hogsmeade yesterday. It was alright. I am sure next time will be better. I did hear about the Hufflepuff party, but I am not sure what date it is. I still think it will be best for us to meet up on Halloween – if that is fine with you. Of course, I would much rather meet up as soon as possible – but I just have a feeling that Halloween would be better. You know those Hufflepuffs – they throw parties all year long. Anything to get people together to have fun. We can attend their next one together.

I am looking forward to Quidditch Season starting in October, also. Although I will kind of miss watching the shirtless volleyball players… Ha. Maybe we can take a vote to get the Quidditch players to play shirtless… at least until winter hits.

Right now, I am in an empty classroom trying to hide from a friend that has been harassing me all day. Girls and their nagging! Ack. Not sure why I put up with it, but she does more good than harm. Plus, she's kind of like a sister..

Hiding in a dark room and wishing you were here,

Mischief

PS. No, I am not shy. But, I have a feeling that _I_ will be the one making the first move while your shy arse is busy blushing.

**-o-O-o-**

Harry laughed as he set the letter aside. Then he pulled the bag out from under his pillow and sat down on his bed. He dumped the contents out and sorted all the colors into different piles. Then he put all the thread back into the bag except the black, greens, and blues.

He chose a few different shades of each and made a thick bracelet for his crush. Then he went into the common room and pulled Hermione aside.

"Hey, I need help with some spells." He asked her.

"Which spells?"

"One that stops thread from breaking down, maybe helps it not fade also."

"Okay, I'll go to the library and look it up."

About forty minutes later, Hermione entered Harry's dorm room. She handed him a piece of paper with the spells written on it. Harry spelled them onto the bracelet and also used a strong **_Impervius_**** to make it water resistant.**

**"Thanks! I owe you big time for today, alright?" Harry told her.**

**"No problem." She responded.**

**Harry then put the bracelet on and decided to wear it for a couple days to make sure the spells worked before he gave it to Mischief. Of course, he would take care to make sure no one saw it.**

**-o-O-o-**

**A couple days later, Harry finished eating supper and walked out of the Great Hall with his friends.**

**"Hey, I'll see you guys at the D.A. meeting tonight, okay?" And he went in the opposite direction, taking a different staircase towards the fifth-floor Prefect's bathroom. He stopped at a statue of **Boris the Bewildered – and looked around. Seeing that he was alone, he placed a small box between the statue and the wall. Then he left the hall and headed towards the Room of Requirement on the seventh floor.

Entering the room, he was shocked to see how many people were inside. Neville walked up to him and said, "See, I told you people were still interested!"

The rest of the evening, they did some of the old spells and counter curses to get practice, while Harry promised everyone that soon they would be learning new things.

**-o-O-o-**

Draco was on the fifth floor walking towards the statue of Boris the Bewildered.

He searched around the statue and finally found the small box. He picked it up and touched it gently. Reluctantly, he put the box in his bag and headed into the Prefect's bathroom to take a long hot bath.

He locked the door with a strong spell and sat down on a chair. Then he pulled the box out of the bag and opened it. He smiled and his heart skipped a beat. His Harry made him a bracelet! It was beautiful and he loved all the different shades of blues and greens, he used. It was perfect. While holding it, he pulled the small note from inside the box and read:

Dear Mischief,

I hope you like this bracelet I made for you. I made it long enough so you can either wear it as an anklet or bracelet. I did some spells to make the thread not break down and also it is water resistant. However, I am still not sure what House you are in, so maybe you might want to take it off during showers!

Oh, and I did wear it for a couple days just to make sure the spells works. Hope you like it.

Yours,

Jolt

**-o-O-o-**

When Draco was a small child, he never would have thought something so simple and non-costly could have ever made him this happy. But this gift meant so much to him; it would definitely become one of his most prized possessions. After he started running the bathwater and bubbles, he carefully put the bracelet on, moving it around to look at the design. He decided to only wear it at nights, and carry it in his pocket during the day. If he forgot to remove it in the showers after Flying class, things could turn disasterous.

After the long bath, he descended the stairs towards the Dungeons. Before he could even make it into the portrait, someone grabbed him by the ear. He didn't even need to turn around.

"Damn it, Pansy!" Draco yelled as he pulled away. "Don't touch me like that, you know I hate it."

"And you know I hate it when you avoid me!" She retorted.

"Well I had good reason. Stop nagging me about stuff and I won't have to hide from you."

"I wasn't nagging you. I was just asking a question."

"Yeah, over and over and over again. That's called nagging."

"Hmph!" She said. Then she turned around and started to storm off.

Draco grabbed her wrist and pulled her to him, hugging her.

"Aw Pansy. Do you really want an answer?" He asked her.

She nodded her head.

"Oh alright. I don't want to meet up with _him_ so soon, because I don't think he's ready yet. I know you want me to set the date for the Hufflepuff party, but I have a feeling it's too soon. I think he might hex me or run off."

"But you've been talking for almost a month now! I think he's ready."

"Yeah, he's ready to find out he's been corresponding with Justin Finch-Fletchley, Ernie Macmillan, or hell - even Michael Corner. But he is not ready to find me waiting for him. I just need a little more time to pull him in."

"But you're so irresistible, if he doesn't fall for your charms, maybe he isn't worth it." Pansy said as she stepped back.

"Ughhh Pansy. Do you realize all the evil things I have done and said to him over the years? He probably hates me! I think it will take more than four weeks to get him to realize I am serious, once we meet in person."

"Fine. I won't bug you about the party. But you better set the date for Halloween, and I mean it."

"Sometimes you are like the pestering little sister I never had." He said while pinching her cheek. Then, "Ow, that hurt." As he rubbed the arm she just punched.

They walked into the Slytherin Common Room together. Draco physically kicked a lower year off his favorite couch before he landed on it gracefully. He spent most of the night thinking of his gift to Jolt. He originally intended to give him a necklace he had worn for years – but since Harry actually took time to make his gift he felt he should add something personal to it; to make it more meaningful.

Entering his dorm room, Draco sat down at his desk and wrote thank you letter to Jolt.

Dear Jolt,

Thank you for the beautiful bracelet. I love it! The colors you picked are perfect and I love all the different shades of blue and green you used.

You said your favorite colors are green and dark gray? I will have to find a way to incorporate that into your gift. I will have it to you soon.

This really means a lot to me, to have something you've given me and I can touch it and think of you all day long. This will help the time between our letters not seem as long.

Happily yours,

Mischief

**-o-O-o-**

Then Draco wrote a second letter. This one was for a jewelry shop that his family had been using for years. He requested them to make a very small charm using**Yowah and Koroit Opals, specifically with more green and dark gray shades in it** He also told them to make it very masculine looking – and to rush the order.

A couple days later his owl dropped a small package off to him. After classes, he went to his dorm room and opened the box. He lifted his necklace from around his neck and put the charm on. It looked perfect.

He sent a letter to Jolt, telling him to look behind the statue after supper.

Before he went to supper that night, he dropped off a small box behind the Boris statue.

Then entering the Great Hall, he sat next to Pansy, Vincent, and Gregory. He looked up to steal a glance of his Harry and his heart swelled. He had less than a month to work on Harry so their first meeting would go well. He suddenly wished he hadn't been a jerk to him all those years. It would be hard to get Harry to overlook everything immediately, but he was determined to try. He had to. He knew that he would do anything to have Harry in his life. Delicately, he reached into his pocket and stroked the bracelet. It reminded him that Harry was already starting to develop feelings for him and calmed his nerves a bit.

**-o-O-o-**

Returning to his dorm room after taking the box from behind the statue, Harry opened the box from Mischief. He saw a thick, lengthy chain with a beautiful tiny charm on it. He couldn't believe someone would give this to him, especially since they had no clue who he actually was. But he thought back to the many letters they had sent and he knew they shared a special connection. He put the necklace on and read the letter from Mischief.

Dear Jolt,

I know this can't compare to the bracelet you actually made with your hands, but I hope you will like it anyway. The necklace itself is one I have been wearing for many years and I just took it off today. I had the small charm made for you. Hopefully the colors will be to your liking.

Thank you for doing this swap with me. I touched your bracelet so many times over the last few days, I am afraid of wearing the threads down. Good thing you put a charm on it to not break down. I love having something of yours with me and I hope you feel the same.

You are in my constant thoughts,

Mischief

**-o-O-o-**

Harry smiled and jotted off a quick reply:

Dear Mischief,

Wow, the necklace is great and the charm is very beautiful. I have a feeling that I will be constantly touching it all day long, as well. It will help me to believe that someone out there actually cares for me. This swap idea was a great one and I thank you for it.

You are in my constant thoughts as well,

Jolt

_-end of chapter-_

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Author's Note: Hufflepuff parties! Yes, I am a Hufflepuff (but I almost begged the Sorting Hat to dump me into Slytherin because I looooove green so much).

Anyway – credit for putting '_Hufflepuff has the best parties'_ into my mind goes to author: iamthelizardqueen and story: Welcome to the Real World. It's definitely worth checking out if you haven't already.


	10. Hufflepuff Party

Authors Note One: Slight femme-slash ahead. You've been warned.

Authors Note Two: So I asked my friend (about Chapter 9), "Is it lame that the boys are giving gifts to each other?" She assured me it wasn't. And I am glad I listened to her and decided to post it. Thanks for the great reviews from the last chapter!

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**:Chapter Ten: **_**Hufflepuff Party**_

Hermione woke up and couldn't stop grinning. Tonight was the Hufflepuff House's first party of the year. They always threw the best parties because they loved pleasing their friends and having a good time. That wasn't the main reason for the smile though. Tonight she was finally going to meet her Quill-match.

Taking care to choose an especially cute outfit for later, she grabbed her school uniform and cleaning supplies and then went to the girl's showers.

After heading down the stairs to the Common Room, she met up with Harry and Ron and walked to the Great Hall for breakfast. While loading their plates, Harry asked why she was smiling so much.

"I'm excited about the party tonight. First of the year." Hermione gleamed.

"That's right. Are you still meeting your match tonight?" Harry asked her.

"Yes. How about you?"

"No, we're going to meet at the Halloween Party instead." He answered while trying to hide his pouting.

"The Halloween party is only a couple weeks away though! It will happen soon enough." She assured him.

"I'm meeting up with my match tonight." Ron interrupted.

"Oh, that's great!" Said Hermione and Harry together.

"Are you still coming to the party though?" Hermione asked Harry.

"Yeah, of course. I'll just be dancing the night away instead of snogging." He replied.

After they had finished eating breakfast, the three went to their Transfiguration class together. The entire day seemed to pass like a blur to most of the students, who were eagerly anticipating the first House party of the year. Especially since most of them would be meeting their matches for the first time that night.

Entering his dorm room, Harry saw his mailbox glowing. Removing the parchment, he read:

My dear Jolt,

I guess tonight is the party everyone has been waiting for. I hope you aren't upset that I still want to wait and meet up at the Halloween party instead. I will be thinking about you all night long. Right now, I am not sure if I will be going to the party or not. What about you, are you planning on attending?

Undecidedly anti-social,

Mischief

**-o-O-o-**

Harry sent off a quick reply:

My Mischief boy,

Yes, I will be going to the party tonight. My friends already asked me during breakfast, so now I can't back out of it. Besides, I love dancing. I plan on dancing so much that I look like someone cast **_Tarantallegra _****on me. I am sure tomorrow I will be sore, but it will definitely be worth it.**

** I will admit that I am sad that you still want to wait to meet up – but you said you have your reasons and promised you would explain why at the Halloween party. I can hold out that long – and no, I'm not upset at you, just sad that I won't get to finally touch you tonight. **

** I hope you have a good night, even if you decide not to attend the party. **

**Soon to be a dancing-fool,**

**Jolt**

**-o-O-o-**

Harry sent off the letter. With it being Friday night, he brought his homework down to the Common Room to complete with Hermione and Ron. When he got there, she was nowhere to be seen. After waiting fifteen minutes, he finally had one of the younger years go up and get her from her dorm room.

A couple minutes later, Hermione appeared, looking well made-up.

"Oh sorry Harry, I just assumed you'd know that we're not doing homework tonight. I wanted to spend some extra time getting ready."

"Yeah, that's all right. I'll go do the same." He said.

She ran back up the stairs to finish getting ready and he slowly walked up to his room.

Throwing off his school robes, he went to his wardrobe and picked an outfit that was fairly tight and showed off his toned body. He went to the bathroom and brushed his teeth, put moisturizer on his face, and ran his hand through his hair. Not much he could do with the latter.

A while later he met up with Ron and Hermione. They descended the stairs towards the Hufflepuff living quarters. The parties were usually held in an abandoned staff room that was rather large and decently furnished, and was near the Hufflepuff House living area.

When they got closer to the correct floor, they started noticing more and more students, dressed up and talking with animated energy. It was definitely contagious – suddenly Harry was glad he came.

The hall was dimly lit and you could already hear the music thumping from the room. The chatter grew louder as they approached the party entrance. In front of them a commotion was happening. Peering over Hermione's shoulder, Harry saw a boy throwing a fit. The portrait was refusing to let him through.

"But I _am_ a fourth year!" The young boy said.

"I have been spelled to only allow fourth years and above through. I can tell you are only a third year. Please move aside and let the other students through."

The boy looked defeated and embarrassed. Harry was sure if the lighting were brighter, he would have seen the boy blushing. The young boy ran down the hall as the portrait opened to let the students that had gathered there while the under-aged boy was blocking the way.

As soon as he walked through the portrait, Harry patted both Ron and Hermione on the shoulder, leaned up and said, _'Good luck'_ to both of them. He turned in the direction of the bar. He figured he might as well enjoy himself while he was there.

When he reached the bar area, a Hufflepuff from his year named Owen Cauldwell leaned over to him.

"Hey, glad you could make it Harry!" He said while handing him a drink.

"Whoa," said Harry after taking a gulp, "where'd you get the firewhiskey from?"

"Don't tell anyone," he said while leaning in closer, "but Fred and George Weasley have gone out of their way to accommodate this party. They donated the fun lights and gave us a huge deal on the alcohol. They just want us to spread the word to spend more money in their shop every month during our trips to Hogsmeade."

"Oh, that's right. I forgot they opened a second, smaller shop in Hogsmeade this year." Harry said. "And don't worry, I won't tell anyone where the alcohol came from."

Finishing his tankard, Harry headed towards the dance floor – having to squeeze in between people because so many students were already there. Once in the dance area, he started dancing alone, becoming oblivious to everyone around him. He had his eyes closed most of the time, involved in his own little world.

Stepping through the portrait, Draco immediately laid eyes on Harry dancing. He was very appreciative of the way his body was moving. Being half tempted to run up to him and confess that he was Mischief, he instead let Pansy drag him to the bar area. They both grabbed drinks and went to sit on the last empty couch. Draco was glad it faced the dance floor.

"Hm, Draco." Pansy started. "With him dancing like that, it's hard not to imagine what he would be like in bed."

"Yeah, agreed. Now stop teasing me. I'm busy watching a God in motion." Draco answered.

"Well it's your own fault that you didn't set up a meeting with him tonight. So don't go acting all frustrated like it was out of your control."

"Noted. Now leave me alone."

"Fine! I'll go get more drinks. You want a butterbeer this time?"

"Whatever." He answered.

**-o-O-o-**

After many songs, Harry decided to go get another drink from the bar area. He didn't even notice a bunch of eyes following him. Putting money into one of the Tip jars – he then grabbed another tankard and started to drink. Feeling a tap on his arm, he turned around. Looking slightly down, he noticed Pansy Parkinson looking at him with a wry grin.

"Hi Harry." She said.

"Riiight." Answered Harry, who was glad to have then spotted Ron behind her. He quickly left Pansy and walked over to his friend.

"What's wrong, Ron?" Harry asked.

"I just met my… my match." Ron answered looking panicked.

"Oh yeah? Who was she?"

"Loony Lovegood is my match! Can you believe it? Now all the gibberish and random facts in her letters makes sense. I can't believe I didn't pick up on it sooner."

"Well, if she is your match, then that's good right? She's a nice girl, it can't be that bad of a thing. Where is she, anyway?"

"I left her."

"To get drinks, right?"

Ron shook his head.

"What? You can't just leave her like that. Here," Harry said while grabbing two butterbeers off the bar. "Take these back to her and play nicely." He put them in Ron's hands and forced him back into the direction he came from. "Give her a fair chance!"

Ron nodded his head, almost robotically. Harry just laughed. He went back to the bar and grabbed some water to drink. Then he was back on the dance floor.

"Maybe you're right," Pansy said while sitting down next to Draco, "tonight might have been too early for your meeting. I tried to talk to _him_ at the bar, but he brushed me off. Maybe he does have a hard time letting a few years of evil-doings go." She laughed.

"Told you." Draco answered, glad to see his Harry on the dance floor again.

"Oh look at the time." Pansy said. "I'll be back later."

She got up and walked out of the portrait into the hallway. Going down a few doors and pausing before entering the one on the right, she took a breath and opened the door.

Hermione turned around, looked at her and said, "I think you're in the wrong room."

"Are you Leaf?" Pansy asked while narrowing her eyebrows.

"_You're_ Flow?" Hermione said, stunned.

Both girls were definitely shocked at their matches and stared at each other for a solid minute, barely keeping their jaws from dropping to the floor.

"With a name like _Leaf_ - I was expecting some hippy. Where'd you get the nickname from?" Pansy asked.

Blushing, Hermione said, "I love books and information. You know, pamphlets, booklets, _leaf_lets…"

"Oh that's so dorky! But I kinda like it too." Pansy responded. "You know, this could turn out to be really good." She said as she grabbed Hermione by her neck and pulled her closer. "You've grown cute and your teeth don't resemble a beaver's any longer." Then she started nibbling her neck.

"Yeah, well apparently your face has absorbed your pug-dog nose and decided to leave you with a cute looking one instead." Hermione says while moaning.

After some time, Hermione asked Pansy why she chose the nickname _Flow_.

"You know, a Pansy is a Flower. As in F. L. O. W. e. r." Pansy told her.

"That's not any less dorky than the one I chose!" Hermione spat as she leaned in for another kiss.

Many days later, when Pansy asked her why she responded so well during their first meeting - Hermione told her that after many years of crushing on someone who was timid and shy, she was glad to finally meet someone who was rough, feisty, and upfront with her. Pansy knew that Hermione was referring to her old crush on Ron Weasley.

**-o-O-o-**

After what seemed like hours, Draco was still entranced watching Harry dance. He really wanted to go dance with him and see how well their bodies flowed with each other – but he knew it would be a bad idea. However, after watching him for so long getting all sweaty, he was slowly talking himself into doing it anyway.

However, before he could make the final decision to stand up and walk over, he noticed Graham Pritchard start dancing with Harry.

Graham put his hand on Harry's waist. Harry finally opened his eyes and noticed that someone was in his personal space. By this point, he had a bit much to drink and in that type of dark atmosphere, he felt so good and free that he found he didn't really care.

When he wasn't shoved off, Graham quickly got bold. He was much taller and bigger than Harry. Suddenly his hands were everywhere pulling Harry closer to him so he was practically grinding Harry while dancing.

Harry laughed and put his hands on Graham's chest and pushed him back a little.

"Slow down there, Slytherin." Harry said.

"You look so hot, I'd do anything to have you tonight." Graham said in his ear.

"Way too fast there. I can barely even remember your name in the state I am in."

"It's Graham. Graham Pritchard. We're in the same year."

"Yeah, okay. Look, I'm going to go get a drink and sit down for a bit."

"I'll come with you."

"If you want." Harry said as he started walking to the bar to get some more water. Grabbing a bottle, he then headed in the opposite direction and found a chair to sit in. Graham had followed and knelt beside the chair. Harry closed his eyes and rested his head on the back of the tall, cushy chair. He never noticed the gray eyes giving him a look of concern while simultaneously giving death glares to Graham.

Graham was stroking Harry's arm, which was resting on the arm of the chair. After minutes of watching him, Graham decided to go for it. He leaned up and was inches away from Harry's face. Then he leaned in and kissed Harry in front of everyone. Harry responded and the kiss grew but didn't last very long.

Graham leaned back and asked, "So how many firewhiskeys have you had?"

"More than a few."

"Well that's good for me." Graham said with a lustful look on his face.

"Nope, it isn't. I'm still perfectly capable to make rational decisions." Harry stated somewhat truthfully.

But, suddenly he was feeling a little remorseful. "Can you get me another, please?" He asked Graham who nodded and quickly walked off. He didn't really want another drink, but he needed a few minutes to himself. His mind was starting to get foggy, not that he would admit it. So he wanted to mull over a couple things and think about them sooner, rather than later. First, could Graham be his match? He was an all right guy, from what he knew. Cute too. But he had a feeling he wasn't his match. Second, why was he letting Graham kiss him? Was it because he wanted to, or because he was being childish and giving a 'payback' to Mischief for not wanting to meet up tonight?

He really needed to think about the last question before he ended up doing something he wouldn't be able to take back tomorrow morning.

Graham showed up with another firewhiskey and handed it to Harry. Harry thanked him and instinctively put his empty hand to his chest, touching the necklace like he had been doing for the past couple of weeks. Right then he made his decision. He was sure his heart would explode if he knew Mischief was out there snogging someone else. Downing the tankard for liquid courage, he looked at Graham and told him that he planned on sleeping in his own bed _alone_ that night and if Graham wanted anything more than conversation, he was wasting his time and should go hit on someone else.

Graham stood up and yelled, 'You're a tease!' at Harry.

"Am not. You're the one who came up to me!" Harry quipped.

A few yards away, Draco breathed his first sigh of happiness that night. When he saw Harry's hand reach up to touch the necklace hidden underneath his shirt and then blow off Graham - it made his heart melt and he had to choke back a sob of relief.

At that moment, Pansy sat down next to him. "You are never going to guess who my match is."

"Um, Ronald Weasley?"

"No!" Pansy said as she elbowed him.

"Well apparently whomever your match is, must not have given you much affection considering your need to fondle me."

"That's where you're oh-so wrong."

"Okay, tell me. Who?"

"Granger."

"No fucking way."

"Yes, and I'll admit right now that her sexual appetite is almost matched to mine. I'm ever so lucky."

"That's hard to believe."

"Well it's true. So what's been going on in the few hours I've been gone?"

"Hm, well I almost gave in and asked Harry to dance, but then Graham beat me to it and was all grabby. They even kissed. Luckily, Harry came to his senses and told Graham to piss off."

"Wow. I'm sorry to hear about that. But at least he isn't so drunk he could be talked into it."

"Yeah, that's something else. I've been watching him drink, and sure he's drinking water and eating pretzels, but he's so _tiny_. I'm worried about him. He was acting fine earlier, but I am concerned it will catch up with him. I've been watching him at parties for years and I have never seen him drink like this."

"Oh Draco, he's probably just upset that his match didn't want to meet up with him. But I'll go find Granger and mention that people are noticing how much he's drinking. Make sure she keeps an eye on him."

"Thanks. Don't tell her about us being matches."

"I won't unless you tell me otherwise." She promised.

Then Draco noticed Harry stand up, a bit slowly and head towards the bathroom. It was a small unisex bathroom with a couple stalls and urinals. Harry went to relieve himself and had to walk past some guy on his knees giving head, but he wasn't really paying attention to that – he was completely focused on his throbbing bladder.

As Harry was leaving the bathroom, his steps were getting a bit slower, maybe sluggish even. He made it through the door but started to fall forward. Luckily, someone caught him and when he felt the strong arms comforting him, he convinced himself to shut his eyes and immediately dozed off.

Draco held onto Harry and his throat felt tight, he had never been this close to his love before. Heaven, he smelled good and felt so right in his arms. He couldn't say anything, instead he looked over to Pansy and nodded her over. She stood up from their couch and walked towards him. When she got there, they both took one of Harry's arms and draped it around their neck. Walking with Harry between them, they started out the portrait.

Pansy caught Hermione's worried eye and gave a quick nod. Hermione grabbed her purse and followed them out of the portrait. She touched Pansy on the small of her back and looked at Harry.

"He's had a bit much to drink for his size." Draco told her. "We'll take him to his room."

"Oh, don't worry about it, I'll go get Ron to carry him up." Hermione said.

"No! I mean, don't you want to spend a few more minutes alone with me?" Pansy asked with a smirk. "If you get Ron to come here, you know he'll freak out. Besides, I think I saw him kissing Loony in one of the corners a bit ago." Pansy told her.

"Okay, sure." Hermione said while giving Draco an unsure look. "Let's go."

Draco gathered up Harry in his arms and started to walk towards the main staircases. Hermione and Pansy fell behind and were talking low and walking very closely.

They overheard some of the people in the hall laughing. Walking past, they heard, "Did you hear that Cho Chang's match was Moaning Myrtle?" Bouts of laughter followed. Then, "That's got to be a joke. Right. Right?"

When they were out of eyeshot of the partygoers, Hermione and Pansy grabbed for each other's hands.

Harry shifted and put his arms around Draco's neck and held on tightly. "I'm so sorry, tell Mischief that I'm sorry." Harry said to no one in particular.

"Don't worry, I'm sure he knows." Draco whispered in his ear, while breathing in Harry's scent. For someone as muscular as Harry, he sure felt light in his arms. Draco decided that he loved holding Harry. He knew he couldn't ever get enough of this closeness.

Many minutes later, they were nearing the Fat Lady portrait and Hermione rushed ahead to give the password. By the time Draco and Pansy caught up, the portrait was open.

"Well this is cozy." Draco spat, mostly upset because he knew he would be losing Harry from his arms in a matter of minutes.

"Go up those stairs there." Hermione pointed. Then she showed him which room Harry slept in and pointed out his bed.

Draco walked over to the bed to set Harry down. Pansy threw the bed covers aside and then pulled Hermione from the room so Draco could have privacy. Hermione just thought she wanted more alone time to fool around.

Lowering Harry down gently onto the bed, Draco pulled off Harry's sweat drenched shirt and set it aside. He couldn't help himself, he had to touch the necklace shining on Harry's chest. His fingers touched the tanned body with feather-like caresses. But he forced himself to stop because he would never want Harry to think he had taken advantage of him.

Pulling the covers up to his chin, he leaned over and placed a sweet kiss on Harry's cheek. Harry leaned towards the pressure and reached one arm up and pulled Draco down.

"Trust me," Draco said softly while leaning back. "I'd rather stay here with you than anywhere else in the world. But, you won't like this decision tomorrow, I'm sure. In two more weeks we'll meet. Hopefully then you will be as accepting to me as you are now."

Draco then leaned over and kissed his other cheek. "Goodnight, my love." He said as he stood back up and walked out of the room, turning around to take one last glance at the beautiful raven-haired boy sleeping peacefully.

_-end of chapter-_

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Authors Note One: **_Tarantallegra _****spell: **The Tarantella is a fast Italian dance. Causes the victim's legs to dance uncontrollably. (Harry wrote that he was going to dance so much at the party, people would think someone placed him under 'Tarantallegra'.)

PS. I am going camping tonight, which is why I posted this chapter today instead of tomorrow. Hopefully there will be a boy pile in my tent! Oh and I leave for Lumos 2006 in about 5 days – so I won't be posting much until I return home in August.


	11. Dandy Candy

Authors Note One: Because I finished a couple projects today, I decided to reward myself by writing this chapter – even though I keep saying no more chapters until I return from Vegas!

Authors Note Two: Before you flame me - They _will_ be meeting up in a couple of chapters, promise! Halloween is not very far off. Just take a couple breaths and forgive me for being ever-so-slow with them finally meeting. I would like to quote _**caltha**_ who said, "_It's great it's taking so long, cuz otherwise the original storyline would be over, and either the story would be finished, or the story would drag on.."_ --so hugs to caltha--

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**:Chapter Eleven: **_**Dandy Candy**_

Saturday morning, Harry woke up feeling a little hung-over. His body refused to move, his mind felt a bit foggy, and his muscles were sore.

"Uhhh. What the hell? Oh yeah, the party last night." Harry said out loud while covering his eyes with his arm to block out the sun.

"Yeah mate, I tried to find you last night before I left, but Hermione said you were already in bed. What happened?" Ron said from his four-poster.

"I'm not sure. The last thing I remember is dancing… With Graham Pritchard? Oh hell, I let him kiss me." Harry said as he smacked his palm to his forehead. "What the hell was I thinking?"

"You only kissed him once, and then you basically told him to fuck off." Seamus added.

"Thanks, that's good to know." Harry told him. "And thanks to whomever brought me to bed."

When no one answered, Harry added, "Um, guys. Which one of you brought me?"

No one answered again. "How the hell did I get to bed?" Harry asked again.

"I don't know."

"I didn't bring you."

"Wasn't me."

"Oh hell, I'll ask Hermione later." Harry mumbled.

"I almost forgot," Ron announced, "Owen Cauldwell told me to give you this pill for your hangover." He then threw a little capsule onto Harry's bedcovers.

"How come I've never seen this version before?" Harry asked him.

"I think my twin brothers gave Owen a bag of them to hand out, since they knew everyone would be drinking too much firewhiskey."

Harry picked up the capsule and looked at it. It was clear with liquid pink on the inside. "No offense Ron, but if these are from Fred and George, there is no way I am taking it without seeing the side effects first."

Ron laughed. "I don't blame you. But don't complain about your head all day when I just handed you a cure."

"A _possible_ cure. Fine. I'll carry it with me and try to find someone who's already taken one and see how they're feeling."

Harry slowly leaned up and crawled out of bed. That's when he noticed he was shirtless and quickly removed his necklace. A couple of cat-calls had Harry begging his friends to not be so loud.

"So how was everyone's night?" Harry asked his roommates.

"My Quill-match is Hannah Abbott! We had a nice time talking all night." Dean told everyone.

"I made out with a cute boy from Ravenclaw." Seamus said. "Oh, and I saw Ron making out with Luna Lovegood for a couple hours." He said while throwing a grin at Ron.

"Yeah, how'd that work out?" Harry asked him.

"Eh, you know. She's pretty entertaining – I can't deny that. And once she shuts up about all the random weird stuff she knows, she's alright to be around." Ron said.

"Well I am glad it worked out. Do you have plans with her later?" Harry wondered.

"Yeah, we're getting together next Saturday at Hogsmeade. And the Halloween Party is in two Saturdays after that – so if things go nicely, we might go to that as well."

The mention of the upcoming Halloween Party made Harry's stomach twist and turn. He was so excited to meet his Mischief, that he wasn't sure how he could get through the next few weeks.

"Let's go shower." Someone said. They all grabbed their supplies and change of clothes.

Harry took a quick hot shower to relieve his muscles, but he couldn't stay in the heat long due to his hangover.

**-o-O-o-**

Hermione was already sitting in the Common Room when the boys appeared. She immediately started blushing.

"What's with you?" Harry asked her. When she shook her head, he asked her, "Do you know how I got to bed last night? I'm still trying to piece everything together."

"I helped." She answered, hoping Harry wouldn't press her for more information. Last night Pansy told her that she might not want to mention Draco helped carry him to bed. Hermione agreed that it was probably a good idea to keep it secret.

"Oh okay, thanks. I'm glad you helped me."

She nodded and they all walked to the Great Hall for breakfast.

As soon as they entered, they noticed a few of the students were acting very unlike themselves. A few were acting so hyper and energetic, you'd think they were still at the Party from last night.

"Wonder what's up with them?" Ron asked.

Smirking, Harry threw the liquid capsule at Ron. "I recognize most of the hyper kids from the bar last night. Looks like your brothers found a way to change the hangover feeling into hyperness. Now way am I going to take it now." He said as he sat down and shoved the plate out of his way so he could lay his head down on the table.

"Wouldn't you rather be hyper and laughing, than hung-over and plugging your ears?" Ron asked him.

"I'm not _that_ hung-over. Just a bit. I mean, I haven't thrown up or anything. Everything just sounds crazy loud and my head feels like some body is squeezing it. I don't even have a headache." Harry answered through the arms he was resting his head on.

"Hey, Hermione, why are you sitting on this side of the table? You always sit over there?" Ron asked her.

"Oh, just a change of scenery." She said while trying not to look at the Slytherin table, because she knew that would cause her to start grinning like mad.

**-o-O-o-**

Across the room, Draco was watching the Gryffindor table and trying to ignore the mass of hyper students that were being loud and obnoxious.

"For fuck sake. What's gotten into everyone?" Draco said out loud.

"I heard that Owen Cauldwell gave out some hangover reducing pills last night. But he got them from the Weasley twins – which explains what we're witnessing now." Graham Pritchard said from a few seats down.

Draco didn't thank him for the information. Instead, he looked over and gave his most intimidating glare to Graham, who dropped his head and quickly continued eating his breakfast. Draco was still jealous about the kiss last night. Even though part of him knew that Pansy was the only one with knowledge of his love for the Golden Boy, so Graham should be forgiven; the other part of Draco's mind was screaming, "Revenge!"

Draco looked back at the Gryffindor table and wondered why Harry was still having a bit of a hangover, since most of the other drinking kids had taken something for it. Then he remembered seeing Harry throw something small and pill-formed at Ron when they entered the Great Hall. Smiling internally, Draco silently commended Harry on waiting out to see the risks of taking the pill. Although, it just went to show how much Harry didn't trust people.

After watching Harry with his head on his arms for a bit, he turned his attention to Pansy. "So, tell me all about last night and your match. What did you say her nickname was?"

"Leaf. And, I wish I could say she isn't my type, but to be honest - she was looking pretty fucking hot in that body-forming dress last night."

"So is it mostly sexual, or are there feelings between you two?"

"Ha, both actually, but with focus mainly on my sexual appetite. Who knows how things will turn out though? So, how are you feeling about the incident last night?"

"Not too pleased. But I can understand why it happened. I am just glad Jolt stopped things from going too far. I wouldn't have been able to refrain from hurting Graham Cracker over there for taking advantage." Draco said while tilting his head in Graham's direction.

"Well don't forget that no one knows you've claimed Harry."

"Yeah, yeah, I realize this. But that doesn't mean my rational side is in charge when my hands are busy wanting to reach for Graham's neck."

Pansy smiled and followed Draco when he stood up to leave the Great Hall. Usually Draco waited until Harry left the Hall first – but he wanted to mail off a letter to Jolt as soon as possible.

Making it down to the Dungeons, Draco left Pansy, Vincent, and Gregory in the Common Room. He went to his room and grabbed something from his trunk and took it to his desk. He wrote a letter to Jolt and mailed it, hoping that the vial would make it with it. He had never tried to send something with his letters before.

**-o-O-o-**

After breakfast, Harry returned to his room to lay down for a bit. He noticed his mailbox was glowing and he felt two things go through his mind. One was excitement and the other was guilt.

He pulled out the letter and almost dropped the small vial inside the rolled up parchment. Thankfully, his Seeker abilities weren't only for the field.

Unrolling the scroll, he read:

Dear Jolt,

I know that some how Hufflepuff got a hold of a lot of firewhiskey and many handfuls of students are now hungover. I am sending you a potion that helps reduce hangovers slightly, but makes it go away much faster. I made this potion myself, so I know there is no funny ingredients or side effects involved. Not sure if you need it or want it, but I am sending it just in case.

So did you have fun at the party last night? I did end up going, but it wasn't much fun without you in my arms. Yes, I realize it is my own fault for wanting to wait until Halloween. Last night I did regret my decision on waiting – but this morning it still feels like the right choice. I will see you three Saturdays from now and finally will get to touch you and hopefully feel how soft your lips feel against mine.

Snoggingly yours,

Mischief

**-o-O-o-**

Harry lifted the vial and looked at it. He uncapped it and drank it with one gulp. Then he wrote a response:

Dear Mischief,

I want to be honest with you. Something happened last night that I am feeling guilty about. I ended up drinking more than I intended and some guy kissed me. I kissed him back once and then when I thought about you – I immediately let him know that it wasn't going to happen again. I hope you can forgive me. I didn't intend it to happen. I have decided that if I can't control my actions, I just won't allow myself to drink.

Thank you for the anti-hangover potion. I can feel it working already. My head doesn't have as much pressure and noises are not as painful. I think I am going to take a nap as soon as I mail this off.

I will definitely see you at the Halloween Party, if you will still have me as your date (after what happened last night). Have you decided on what you are wearing yet, so we will know how to find each other in a crowd of dressed up people? I am still tossing around ideas. Let me know.

I hope to hear from you soon. If you are mad at me for kissing that guy last night, be honest with me. I care so much about you and I don't want to ever hurt your feelings. But I feel like I have to tell the truth. I don't ever want our relationship to have any lies.

Nap-time is calling,

Jolt

**-o-O-o-**

Minutes later, Draco read the letter and smiled. He was glad that Harry told him about the kiss. He was secretly worried that Harry would keep it from him; making trust issues become a problem later.

He didn't want to keep Harry worried, so he wrote off a quick letter and mailed it. Deciding to copy Harry, he decided to take a short nap.

**-o-O-o-**

Harry woke up from his brief nap and saw his mailbox glowing again. Nervously, he pulled out the parchment and unrolled it.

Dear Jolt,

I am glad you were honest with me about last night. I will say that I am very heartsick that it happened, but we haven't exactly promised anything to each other, so it isn't like you broke a pledge to stay true or anything.

Thankfully, kissing is as far as it got.

Yes, I still want you as my date on Halloween night. I haven't decided what I will wear either, but I will let you know as soon as I do.

I think I will copy you and take a short nap now,

Mischief

**-o-O-o-**

Harry felt slightly relieved that Mischief wasn't too upset with him. He wrote a response and mailed it off, before heading towards the Common Room to meet up with his friends. The weather was starting to get chilly outside, but he wanted to try and get Ron to go for a walk with him.

Entering the Common Room, he saw Ron playing a card game with Neville. Ron looked up and said hi. Neville nodded at him.

"Hey, Ron, after this card game will you go for a walk outside with me?"

"Sure thing." Ron answered.

About twenty minutes later, they were putting on their scarves and gloves and heading outside. They started walking in the direction of the empty Quidditch pitch.

"Is something wrong, Harry?" Ron inquired.

"Not really. I just wanted to talk to you about my Quill-match and maybe get some input from you."

Ron felt elated. The fact that Harry was coming to him for advice made him feel very important. He knew he was his best friend, but this entire year they didn't seem to be talking as much as usual.

Seeing the look on Ron's face made Harry glad he chose to come talk to him.

"My match's name is Mischief –"

"Sounds fun!" Ron interrupted.

Harry grinned. "Yeah, I think so too. Well we have talked about so many things over the past couple of months. I really feel like I might be falling for him even though we haven't met yet. I am so pulled in by the things he writes to me and the feelings he shares. Hearing from him is always the high point of my day." Harry started. "I just want to know – is it silly for me to be feeling this way so soon… especially when we haven't even met yet?"

"Oh man. Even between the letters Luna and I sent, I didn't get that strong of a feeling. I just knew that she made me laugh and I would probably like her company in person too."

"So, you don't think I'm over reacting and putting too much faith into this?"

"Definitely not. Just go with your heart. What is it telling you?"

"It's telling me that I found the love of my life. I feel so lucky. I also feel like I am being tortured because I want so badly to meet him."

"Did you tell him about you kissing Graham last night?"

"Yeah, I couldn't keep it from him. If Mischief had kissed someone, I would have wanted to know. Of course, I'm not sure I would have taken it as well as he did. I would probably be upstairs refusing to get out of bed."

"I've never seen you like this before. So you must feel very strongly for this guy."

"I do." Harry admitted. "So how are things going between you and Luna?"

"Not bad so far. I'll admit I was embarrassed that she was my match at first. But then she made me laugh all night and I couldn't help but want to kiss her."

Harry smiled. "I am glad things are working out between you two. And thanks for talking with me." Harry added.

"No problem. It's getting really cold out, we should go back inside."

**-o-O-o-**

Draco woke up from his nap and read the letter he pulled from his glowing mailbox.

Dear Mischief,

I know we haven't promised anything to each other yet. So here is my first promise: I have decided that I want to give my heart to you. I promise not to disrespect you again by letting someone else touch me. I have decided that if I can't control myself – I just won't allow myself to drink any alcohol again. It isn't fair to you. I can't even imagine how I would feel if you wrote me today saying that you had snogged someone last night. My heart hurts even thinking about it.

So I apologize again and hope you truthfully mean it when you say you still want to meet up with me and you aren't mad at me.

With deep remorse,

Your Jolt

**-o-O-o-**

Draco was almost in tears after reading it. He wrote a letter to Harry telling him that he felt the same way and promised that he would be true to him as well. Touching the bracelet Harry made for him sent shivers through his body.

**-o-O-o-**

The weekend passed by and classes were back in session. It was interesting to watch the new dating pairs in the hallways. People you would never imagine dating, were sighing contentedly and holding hands everywhere they went now. Harry was envious, but at the same time, he knew that his meeting with Mischief was coming up soon. Their bond was growing stronger with every letter sent.

Half a week had gone by since the Hufflepuff party. Harry was rushing to grab his schoolwork before his first morning class. He realized he was out of ink for his quill, so he opened his trunk to grab a new bottle. When he was digging around for it, his hand rubbed against something unfamiliar, so he lifted it up.

'_Oh, I had forgotten about these_.' Harry thought while looking at the Dandy Candy Fred and George had given to him. He made a promise to himself to experiment with them later that night.

He grabbed the new inkbottle and jetted off to class. Panting, he sat next to Hermione and Ron just seconds before Professor McGonagall entered the room and started on her lesson. Ron gave Harry a quizzing look. Harry lifted his new inkbottle and Ron mouthed 'Oh.'

After the rest of his classes, he decided to go figure out the Dandy Candy. Running upstairs and changing out of his school uniform, he put on some jeans and a band shirt. Then, finding Ron in the Common Room, he asked him, "What were the instructions for the candy we got from Fred and George?"

"You hold it in your hand and say '_Excipio.' _Then you have thirty seconds to put your emotions into it. When someone eats it, they actually _feel_ what you were feeling for thirty seconds." Ron then added, "Oi, man, did you hear about the candy I gave to Dean?"

"No, I didn't."

"It was hilarious. I held it in my hand when I was in potions class getting yelled at by Snape last week. After Dean had eaten it, he was in a bad mood for like an hour! I want to try more, but I only bought a few."

Harry laughed and thanked him for the information.

He went up to his bedroom and grabbed the candy. Some of his roommates were in the room so he decided to go somewhere else. He ended up choosing to use the Room of Requirement. After pacing back and forth a few times thinking, '_I need a relaxing room with a soft bed_,' he walked through the door.

The room he entered was one he had never used before. It was dimly lit and the candles were reflecting off the walls. There was a large round canopy bed in the middle of the room. All the satiny fabrics were in the navy blue family, except some of the pillows were olive green and cream.

Harry walked over to the bed and pulled the covers down. He then removed all of his clothing and lay down. He knew the impression he wanted to put into the candy, but was a bit unsure of himself. Finally, he decided to just go for it.

He started touching himself tentatively at first, running his fingertips down his body imagining it was Mischief. After teasing himself by tracing quite a few circles around his growing organ, he reached for it and automatically squeezed his toes shut. With his hand now around his large shaft, he began caressing it; slowly at first, but after a few minutes, he was moving much faster.

When he guessed he could only hold out for another half minute, he reached over and grabbed the candy with his empty hand and spelled _Excipio_. Thankfully he could do wandless magic since his two hands were now busy.

He thought about what it would feel like if Mischief was there with him, causing his body to send electric shocks throughout. He felt like he was floating and becoming lightheaded. Goosebumps appeared, his flesh was radiating heat, and yet, somehow he suddenly felt chills on his body. Just when twenty seconds hit, he exploded everywhere. It shot up many inches and fell onto the covers and some onto the floor. His orgasm was so intense, he couldn't move for many seconds except to uncurl his toes. With the last seconds he had, he tried to picture as much desire and need as he could.

Minutes later, he finally sat up and did a cleaning spell. Getting dressed, he walked out of the room towards Gryffindor Tower. Once he entered his room, he pulled some parchment out of his trunk and wrote a quick letter to Mischief. He paused right before he stuck the paper and candy in the mailbox. What if Mischief didn't like this or thought he was coming on to him too strongly? What if he thought Harry's orgasm was a joke? What if this made Mischief not want to talk to him any longer? He shoved those thoughts aside and quickly put the parchment and candy into the mailbox before he could change his mind.

As he walked back into the Common Room, he noticed it was eerily empty. Suddenly, Neville appeared from the Fat Lady portrait and stood in front of him.

"You're late for the D.A. meeting!" Neville chastised.

"Oh man, I forgot about it, sorry." He told Neville as they rushed back out the portrait and ran towards the Room of Requirement. Harry was glad he could blame the red in his cheeks on the running and not have to explain that he was just there… using the room not even half an hour earlier. This was going to be a very interesting meeting for sure.

**-o-O-o-**

"Hey Draco, your mailbox is glowing." Gregory said as he entered Slytherin Common Room.

Draco lept up from his favorite couch, smirked at Pansy, and walked towards his dorm room.

He took the letter from his mailbox and a piece of candy fell out. He barely caught it before it hit the floor.

Opening the piece of paper, he read:

My Mischief Boy,

This is a new type of candy called Dandy Candy. I have charmed it to hold thirty seconds of my feelings for you. I hope you enjoy it.

Just a warning – make sure you are alone before you eat it. Hope to hear from you soon.

Your Jolt

**-o-O-o-**

Draco looked around his room and noticed that no one was there other than himself. He wondered what the big deal was, having to be alone. It was just a piece of candy.

So he set the parchment down and opened the candy wrapper. Popped it in his mouth and started to chew. Suddenly he was hit by a train of emotion. He fell hard to his knees and couldn't move from that position. His eyes went blank and his erection almost burst through his pants. He could feel the lust and desire Harry had for him and he seriously almost had a heart attack from joy. His heart was pounding so fast and he could feel Harry getting closer to orgasm. Draco didn't even need to touch himself to be in pace with Harry. His body was keeping up on it's own. In those thirty seconds, Draco felt more sexual hunger than he ever felt with anyone else in his life.

He could feel Harry's orgasm rocketing and spraying everywhere. Draco's orgasm did the same, but thankfully it was caught by his pants. He drenched them. After the orgasm, he fell to his side and stayed there for about ten minutes seemingly paralyzed. He was sure he could get up, but he didn't want to let the experience go so soon.

Some time later, Pansy appeared at his side.

"Oh Draco! Are you okay? Want me to call for Professor Snape? What happened?" She questioned in one breath.

"Feel great." He barely muttered.

"Well why are you laying on the floor? Here, I'll help you up."

Pansy took his arm and tried to get him to stand up. Eventually Draco got some energy back and somehow got on his feet. He used Pansy to lean on.

"Clothes. Shower." He whispered to her.

She helped walk him over to his wardrobe and grabbed his shower supplies and a change of pajamas since it was getting late.

Walking towards the door, Pansy asked him, concerned, "Are you going to tell me what happened?"

By then Draco was able to stand up and walk on his own.

"Jolt sent me some candy, and I'll just say that it was one of the best experiences of my life. We need to get a hold of some. It's called Dandy Candy." He said while walking off, leaving a very confused Pansy in his dorm room.

Draco made it to the showers and stripped, luckily he had the bathroom to himself. He took his time showering and thinking of the effects from the candy. He had never had an orgasm that intense before, not by the hands of himself or others. He silently thanked himself for deciding to put his hatred for Harry aside years ago, and let himself freely fall for him. He knew no one else could ever make him feel that way.

After showering, he went to his room again and wrote a letter off to Jolt, thanking him for the experience.

**-o-O-o-**

When the D.A. meeting was over, Harry walked with Neville back towards Gryffindor Tower.

"You're getting really good." He told Neville truthfully.

"Yeah, I'm able to concentrate better." Neville told him.

"I noticed. So what do you think brought about this change?"

"Well, I have something I am fighting towards."

"What's that?"

"I want to kill Bellatrix Lestrange for what she did to my parents."

"Oh Neville. I'm so sorry that she's the only Death Eater that got away and didn't have to pay for all the evil things she did. But it's a bit scary hearing you talk like that."

"Well, I can handle it. I want to be the one to do it."

"All right. But promise me you'll come to me to discuss your plans and also if you want to talk about anything else. Okay?"

"Sure." Neville said.

When they entered the Common Room, Harry pulled Hermione aside. He didn't want to betray Neville's confidences, but at the same time, he did want someone else to help keep an eye on him. He knew Hermione would be the perfect person.

After he told her Neville's comments, Hermione said sadly, "I knew something was going on with him this year. I should have realized that he's changed a bit since the Final Battle, when Lestrange got away. Thanks for telling me, I'll be sure to talk to him more and keep an eye out." Hermione started to walk away but stopped. "Oh, do you mind me telling Ginny? I know that he used to have a crush on her, and I think letting her in on it will be good."

"Yeah, I trust your decisions. Just tell her to keep it a secret."

"I will." Hermione promised.

Harry climbed the stairs to his dorm room and smiled when he saw his mailbox glowing.

Opening the letter, he read:

My dearest Jolt,

You have no idea how amazing that candy was. I would spend every last penny I have just to be able to feel that every day. I had never even heard of Dandy Candy before. Where did you get it from?

As for details, thankfully I was alone when I ate it. I can't believe the emotion you put into it. I feel the same way towards you. I had the best orgasm of my life today, thanks to you. I was actually sort of paralyzed to the floor for a while after, because the emotions hit me so hard. My friend had to practically help me to the showers after she tried to find me because I was missing for so long.

Thank you, thank you, thank you. Times a million. Billion even. I need to get a hold of some of those candies so I can repay you. Goodnight.

Orgasmic-ly yours,

Mischief

**-o-O-o-**

Harry smiled when he finished reading the letter. At some point, he would have to send a thank-you card to the Weasley twins and congratulate them on being geniuses. But first, he reached over and grabbed some paper and sent a fast reply to Mischief.

Dear Mischief,

I am relieved to hear you liked the candy. I actually considered not sending it because I was nervous how you would react. I am glad I made the right choice. I am smiling so big right now.

I hope you have a good night's sleep.

You are in my thoughts,

Jolt

_-end of chapter-_

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Authors Note One: This chapter is dedicated to _**Mace**_, who said, "_Why hasn't Harry gone to Ron to discuss his match? Aren't they still best friends? Shouldn't they be confiding in each other?_" So, thanks for pointing it out so I could address it.


	12. Second Hogsmeade Trip

Authors Note One: I am in Vegas now about to go back to the convention to watch the outdoor Water Quidditch Finals. This chapter is dedicated to _**Singing Nekopan.**_ – who asked if I could post Chapter 12 today, because it's her birthday. Yes, two days ago, I did say I wouldn't post again until August. Oops. Also, only half the chapter is finished . Second half will be written and uploaded later. (Happy Birthday!)

Authors Note Two: So, I kept looking at my calendar, thinking there were five Saturdays in October this year. Um, there's only four. There are five _Sundays_ in October this year. So now my time line is messed up and I will have to go back and correct a few things. Hopefully I didn't confuse anyone too much.

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**:Chapter Twelve: **_**Second Hogsmeade trip; **__**Part One**_

Draco was beginning to love these Hogsmeade trips. The main reason? None of the seventh-years wore their school uniforms. Of course Harry looked hot in his uniform, but the robe covered up too much of his body, in his opinion. He loved it when Harry wore his muggle clothes. Form-fitting jeans, tight shirts, adorable brown sneakers.

Draco and Pansy were on their way to Hogsmeade along with the entire seventh-year mass.

"Did you find out where to buy the Dandy Candy from?" Draco asked her.

"Yeah, but you're not going to like it."

"Tell me."

"The Weasley twins make it."

"Ugh. I should have guessed that. I really don't want to support them, but I guess the twins aren't as bad as the rest of that crop."

"Glad you think that. We'll stop by their shop since they recently opened one in Hogsmeade."

"Did they? Well good, then I won't have to mail-order it."

"I like candy, Draco. What kind is it?" Gregory asked him.

Draco smiled. "It's a very special kind of candy, but you don't eat it for the flavor, it's all about the experience." Draco said matter-of-factly.

"Why wouldn't you want to eat candy for the flavor?" Gregory asked with a confused look.

"Just stick to Honeydukes, Gregory. I wouldn't suggest you play around with any of the Weasley's candy." Pansy told him.

"So we'll all meet up at The Three Broomsticks at one o'clock, right?" Pansy confirmed with the small group of Slytherins she was walking with. Everyone nodded their heads.

"Great. Draco, did you want to stop at the Wheezes shop before or after?" Pansy questioned.

"Before. That way we have the entire rest of the trip free."

After the half-hour walk to Hogsmeade, the group split up. Pansy and Draco went to the Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes shop, Gregory and Vincent went to Honeydukes, Blaise and Theodore went to a jewelry store so Blaise could buy something for his mother.

When Draco entered the shop, he started looking around at all the different products. He had never even been in the original shop in Diagon Alley.

All the products were unique and some of the items, he couldn't imagine how the twins would have come up with them. Like the Self Es-STEAM (which makes the gas you pass smell like different flowers for the entire day), the HAIR-cules (depending on which flavor you chose, your hair would change that color and continue growing in that color for an entire month), and the Dandy Candy (which the effects could be good or bad). And those were just a few.

Noticing the Restricted area, Draco started heading towards it. That's where all the good products were, including the Dandy Candy. You had to be seventeen or older to purchase anything in that area. The Restricted section was behind a clear partition – so anyone could see in or out, but younger people couldn't pass through the doorway.

Draco was looking through the items when he felt a sharp poke in his ribs. Looking harshly at Pansy, she nodded her head to the front of the store. Harry was just walking into the store. Draco's heart skipped a beat. Exactly a week from today, he would be dancing with Harry at the Halloween Ball. He saw the twins rush up to greet Harry, but couldn't hear what they were saying.

**-o-O-o-**

Harry entered the store and as soon as the twins saw him, they rushed over.

"Hi, Harry!" Fred and George said together.

"Hi guys. I just wanted to thank you for the Dandy Candy you gave me last time. I have used a few pieces and it is amazing! You are both geniuses!"

Fred and George looked at each other with big smiles and then back at Harry. They both threw their arms around Harry and were hugging him tightly.

Draco stepped out of the Restricted section and was watching the event unfold. He saw the three of them hugging, and then Fred reached down to pinch Harry on the bottom. He yelped and jumped up. Then the twins wrapped their arms around each other while Harry was in the middle.

"Harry sandwich!" George announced!

"Harry sandwich!" Fred agreed.

"This is the best twin sandwich yet!" George deducted as he squeezed tighter.

"I can barely breath, you two." Harry mumbled from Fred's shirt.

"Oi. Don't mush him, George!"

"I'm not. You are!" George disagreed.

"Seriously, feeling confined here." Harry told them.

"Oh alright." The twins said together and disappointedly let each other go and stepped back.

"Malfoy, what the –" Fred said.

Harry turned around to see a wand being pointed at him.

"Malfoy! What's your problem?" Harry said while slowly putting his hands up.

"You are!" Draco spat.

"Me? What did I do to you?"

"You… you-"

Pansy cast expelliarmus and caught Draco's wand. She grabbed Draco by the arm and said, "We'll just be leaving now." And dragged a scowling blondie from the store.

"What did you do that for?" Draco yelled, once outside.

"What? Keep you from being an idiot? Seriously Draco, don't you have any control?"

"Not when it comes to him. Did you see those redheaded heathens? They were practically molesting him and you made me leave him in there!"

"Oh, get real! I'm sure Harry can take care of himself. Besides, they're all just friends and playing around. I can't believe you almost hexed Harry!"

"I wasn't thinking…"

"No doubt. Look, I have to go meet Leaf. I'm forbidding you to go back into the Weasley's shop. I'll meet you in a bit at The Three Broomsticks as planned." Pansy gave Draco a quick hug and was off.

**-o-O-o-**

After Pansy pulled Draco out of the Weasley's shop, Harry turned around and looked at the twins. "What the hell was that?" He wondered.

"No clue. That kid has issues." Fred replied.

"Yeah, apparently." Harry muttered. "Well, I'm supposed to meet up with Ron, so I'll see you guys later."

"Aw, If you must." Fred said.

"Fine, leave us!" Said George.

Harry just shook his head, smiled, and walked out of the shop.

As he was walking towards Honeydukes to meet up with Ron, someone grabbed his shoulder. He turned his head to the side and scowled when he saw who was grabbing him.

"Malfoy! What do you want?" He said while holding his wand out, not taking any chances.

"Nothing. Um. To apologize, maybe."

"_Maybe_ to apologize? What is it that goes on in your mind, Malfoy? I'm not sure if anyone could figure it out."

Draco pushed Harry's wand to the side and stepped forward, invading his space.

Harry, not wanting to look intimidated, stood his ground.

"What are you playing at, Malfoy?"

"Harry, I thought we were past using last names." Draco said while reaching out to touch Harry's lips.

Harry shifted his face to the side, out of the reach of Draco's fingers. His eyes narrowed. "You're wasting your precious time if you think you're teasing me, because I have no interest in you." He told him and turned around to walk off.

Draco grabbed his shoulder, and stepped around him to block his escape.

"Malfoy, quit bothering me, I'm not in the mood."

"Wait, Harry. I just wanted to talk to you."

"Right, you want to _talk_ to me. What for, so you can catch me off guard to hex me or something?"

"No, nothing like that. I just wanted to –"

"What is THIS?" Ron yelled, coming up from behind Draco. "Ferret, you leave him alone!" Ron commanded while clenching his fists.

Harry sidestepped Draco, giving him a questioning glare the entire time. He walked off with Ron.

Draco was left there, alone. He couldn't believe the Weasleys. The entire lot of them were always making him upset. So what if he wanted to talk to Harry? Why should that be a problem? Of course, he caused Harry a lot of grief for the first few years of school, but had no one noticed that the last couple years he had been leaving him alone?

Draco was in a foul mood. He looked up and saw Graham walking with Theo. He made sure to walk in their direction and as he was passing them, he bumped Graham hard enough to almost knock him over.

"Watch where the hell you're going, Pritchard!" Draco yelled. He was upset that Graham could dance with Harry and kiss him with no issues from anyone – but he couldn't even _talk_ to Harry without people jumping to the Golden Boy's defense.

Draco stormed off to meet up with his Housemates in The Three Broomsticks.

_-end of first half of chapter-_

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_**PART TWO**_**part two**_**PART TWO**_**part two**_**PART TWO**_**part two**_**PART TWO**_**part two**_**PART TWO**_**part two** _**PART TWO **_**part two**

PS. The second half of this chapter is dedicated to _**firefairyislifetheuniverseandeverything**_, who asked, "Can we have some more interactions between Harry and Draco round school while Harry still doesn't know that Draco is Mischief?" And, I thought 'Duh! Why didn't I think of that?' Thanks!

Warning: Slight femslash ahead. Also, wow, it's been ten days since my last update. That's the longest you've had to wait so far – so sorry! Usually I update every couple days. What's my excuse? A girl at the Lumos 2006 convention gave me a list of Harry/Draco stories and I've been spending my time reading them instead of producing the rest of this chapter. I'm bad!

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**:Chapter Twelve: **_**Second Hogsmeade Trip; **__**Part Two**_

_recap: 'Draco stormed off to meet up with his Housemates in The Three Broomsticks'…_

After leaving Honeydukes with bags of candy a while later, Harry and Ron walked to The Three Broomsticks.

Once inside, they looked around for a place to sit. Harry's eyes stopped at the table that Draco Malfoy was sitting at. He narrowed his eyes briefly and then continued searching the inn for an empty table.

Ron pointed over to a spot near a far corner and they started heading towards it.

Pansy looked at Draco and said in a pleading voice, "Oh, Draco. Please tell me you didn't do anything stupid after I left you."

Draco tried to look like he had no clue what Pansy meant, but she saw through it. She gave him a look that said she was about to throw a tantrum.

He sighed and leaned over and told her what happened after he ran into Harry when he left the store.

"You were going to tell him, weren't you?" Pansy said accusingly.

"Of course I wasn't." Draco said with the wave of his hand.

Pansy didn't buy it. "One more week and you can reveal everything." She told him.

Draco rolled his eyes. "Yeah, I know. I can wait another week. It's just… when I see him, my intelligence seems to pause. Like, I already know he's going to reject me, so somehow I end up pushing and then making things worse." Draco said, and then added, "I hate that he has so much influence over me. It's sickening, really."

The barmaid brought drinks to the Slytherin table, but Draco was too busy glancing at Harry's table to notice. He was daydreaming about the Halloween Ball. Plus, he was trying to come up with a plan to smooth out the issue from today.

Pansy watched Draco in deep thought for a few minutes - and knew what he was thinking. "Let me know if I can help you." She whispered into his ear.

Draco nodded his head and then tuned everything out. Half an hour later, his Housemates were standing up and getting ready to head back to Hogwarts. Pansy had to tug on Draco's shirt to make him aware that they were leaving.

**-o-O-o-**

When Harry finally got back to the castle later that day, he was pulled aside by Graham. Ron shrugged and continued walking up the stairs towards Gryffindor.

"Can we talk?" Graham asked Harry.

"Sure."

He led him to a more private area than the main staircase.

"About the party a couple of weeks ago," Graham started, "I… I'm sorry about being too forward and pushy."

"Don't worry about it. I drank too much and probably led you on or something. I could have stopped you sooner…"

"No, you didn't lead me on at all." Graham put his hand on Harry's shoulder and spoke softly. "Harry?"

"Yeah?"

"I was wondering if you would go with me to the Halloween Ball."

"Sorry Graham. I already have a date."

Graham removed his hand and nodded his head.

"Well, if it doesn't work out between you two, you can always come find me."

Harry smiled. "Thanks."

He turned around and walked back to the stairs and continued on his way to his room.

Once there, he opened his glowing mailbox and started to read.

Dear Jolt,

How was your trip into Hogsmeade? Mine didn't go too well, so I ended up coming back early with my Housemates. Have you ever said something or done something without thinking and immediately wish you didn't? That's how my day has been so far.

I have finally decided on what costume I am going to wear to the Halloween Ball. If you want to wear something similar, that would be great. I am planning on doing a Masquerade theme, pretty close to the Renaissance period - but, with a few tweaks. No way am I going to stuff my costume with horse hair (which would be authentic), and I am not going to wear the knee-length pants with hosiery either. If you would like to wear something in that time period, let me know. I have to order my costume soon so I can have it before next Saturday. The place I am ordering from has a special going on, so I can get them both fairly cheap.

Also, I am going to wear a full mask, instead of the small eye-covering one that you hold up. I can get you one as well.

One week from today, you will be in my arms,

Mischief

**-o-O-o-**

Harry put the letter down, grinning. He could just imagine how sexy the costume would look. He definitely wanted to match. So he took out his Quill and replied.

Hi Mischief,

I had a nice day at Hogsmeade, but I know the next trip will be much better because we will go together.

The costume idea sounds great. Go ahead and order one for me and let me know how much it costs. I guess we'll have to find a place to stash it, because I doubt it will fit in my mailbox, or behind the statue we usually use.

Sorry to hear that your trip to Hogsmeade wasn't good today. Anything you want to talk about? Hopefully the rest of your day will be better.

I think this coming week will drag by so slowly. I can hardly believe that one week from today, I will finally get to meet you. Let me know when you get the costumes and we'll decide how to get mine to me.

Impatiently yours,

Jolt

**-o-O-o-**

Before Harry mailed off the letter, he went downstairs to the Common Room and pulled Hermione aside. She followed him upstairs and measured his body for the costume. He added the measurements to his letter and mailed it off.

"You've decided what type of costume you're going to wear?" Hermione asked him.

"Yes, but you'll have to wait and find out." Harry replied.

"Alright, well I have to go, I'll see you later."

"Thanks for measuring me." Harry said as she walked out the door, assuming she was headed for the library.

Hermione stopped at her room and grabbed a bag that had her change of clothes. She walked to the Prefects bathroom and said the password. She turned on the wall's sconce light, but left the main overhead light off. Turning on all the faucets to the huge tub, she started to strip.

"Couldn't wait for me?" Pansy said as she entered the door. "Nevermind, I think I rather like walking in when you're almost naked." She corrected and walked over to the other girl.

She quickly stripped down and both girls entered the tub. They were kissing when a voice boomed, "What is going on?"

Hermione jumped back with her heart racing. Pansy just started laughing and reached out to pull Hermione towards her again.

"Wow, Hermione. I'm only kidding." Draco said as he started walking towards the showers. "You two should put a lock on that door. Or is getting caught part of the excitement?" He said with a smirk.

"Don't you realize you just walked into the biggest fantasy of straight men?" Pansy questioned.

"Oh right, that. Well, what the hell." Draco said as he cannon-balled into the tub and splashed water and bubbles everywhere.

After wiping the water of her face, Hermione gave Pansy a questioning look.

"Don't worry about him, he's completely harmless." Pansy assured her.

When Draco came up, he was smiling and went to sit next to Hermione.

"What do you mean he's harmless?" Hermione asked while looking at Draco.

"Oh that. Well I'm not interested in vaginas." Draco said crudely.

Hermione gawked at him. "So then what are you doing in here?"

"I was planning on showering, but then decided to pester you two. This is payback for what _you_ did to me yesterday." Draco said while glaring at Pansy.

Pansy started laughing. "Get over it, Draco. It's not the first time I've watched you wank."

"When you walk in on someone, the best course of action is to leave. You ruined the whole experience by refusing to go away and it gave me blue balls for the rest of the night until I could sneak away and relieve myself!"

"I couldn't help it. It was interesting to watch. Maybe you should find a new place to do it."

"Yeah, obviously!" He retorted. "So now I plan on ruining your fun little tub party."

"You can try." Pansy said as she stood up and shoved her breast into Hermione's face and tossed her head back and started moaning.

"Alright, you win!" Draco said and he practically ejected from the tub and headed towards the showers. "But, I will get you back! You are such a pestering… _little bratty sister_."

Pansy laughed and pulled back from Hermione. They both watched him walk away with bubbles running down his body.

"He has the best ass I've ever seen on a guy." Pansy commented.

"Definitely." Hermoine agreed.

Once they heard the shower turn on from the side room, Hermione picked up her wand and cast an advanced locking spell on the door. Then they continued with their fun.

A while later, after Draco left, Pansy was looking slightly nervous.

"Is something wrong?" Hermione asked her.

"No. I was just thinking that it would be nice if we studied together tomorrow night."

Hermione beamed. "Really? That's a good idea!"

"The library will get full tomorrow because it's Sunday and you know everyone loves to put off their homework until the last minute." Pansy told her.

Giving her a shocked look, Hermione said, "So you want to meet up in public? I thought we agreed to keep our relationship a secret for a while."

"Well if all the tables are full, who's to stop you from sitting at the table I'm at? Oh and bring Harry… and Ron if you'd like. I'll have Draco, Gregory, and Vincent with me."

"Okay, but I'm not telling the boys about the set up. They would never agree to come."

**-o-O-o-**

The following morning, Draco was laying on his favorite couch in his Common Room, with his arm over his eyes. He felt the couch dip near his feet.

"Did you get her to agree about tonight?" Draco asked, fully knowing that no one in their right mind would sit at his couch while he was there, besides Pansy.

"Yes." Said her familiar voice.

Draco removed his arm and looked up at her. "Thanks." He said. "You didn't tell her, did you?"

"No, and I won't unless you tell me otherwise."

"You sure are a useful little sister when you're not busy pestering me."

"I wish you'd stop calling me your little sister. You know that I'd fuck you if given a chance."

"I thought you stopped that little fantasy once you started dating Leaf."

"One can always dream. Besides, I'm sure she still has a crush on Viktor Krum. They still keep in touch, you know? He is planning on coming to visit her at some point."

"Are you worried?"

"No. I think we're heading into The Lifestyle."

"As in swinging?"

"Yeah. I think she'll always be my number one. Neither of us seems like the jealous type, so it should work out."

"Well good for you. Sounds like fun. But I refuse to share anything of mine."

"Unfortunately, yeah."

"What time are we getting to the library?"

"We'll show up early to get a good table to ourselves. And I expect you to scare off anyone who tries to sit with us once the library starts to fill up."

"Consider it done."

Later that night, Gregory and Vincent both declined going to the library because they wanted to make a stop at the kitchen to get some snacks.

**-o-O-o-**

"Hey, Harry, Ron." Hermione said.

"Oh no. I know that look and I already have plans later with Luna." Ron announced.

Harry gave him a pleading look, but Ron refused to invite him.

"Come on Harry, a little studying on a Sunday night won't hurt you." Hermione told him.

"But I already did my homework with you on Friday! The reason we do it on Friday is so we can have the rest of the weekend free, right?" Harry challenged her.

"You got me. But please, I really want to study and the place is going to be packed. I would love it if you went with me. Pleeeeease."

"Oh alright." Harry said while trying not to kick Ron who was laughing behind his hand.

Harry went upstairs and gathered his writing equipment and a book to study. He met up with Hermione and they started heading towards the library.

**-o-O-o-**

"Keep walking or I will hex you." Draco warned, when it looked like some fifth year girls were going to sit with him and Pansy.

Their eyes went wide and they hurried towards the library exit.

"You are such a bully and I love you for it." Pansy said. She was sitting across from Draco and facing the main doorway. Her eyes lit up briefly and she quickly looked down.

Draco took the hint and continued working on his Potions assignment.

He heard some loud whispering behind him, and tried to focus on what they were saying.

"Uh uh. No fucking way am I sitting at that table, Hermione!" Harry whispered when he saw the direction she was headed.

"But all the other tables are full!" Hermione whispered back.

"I already don't want to be here! Sitting with them will be torture!"

"Oh come on. What's the worst that can happen?"

"Besides getting hexed or punched? But, I doubt they'll let us sit there anyway. I'm willing to bet five sickles we won't even get a chance to sit down."

"You're on." Hermione said as she started walking towards the back table.

Hermione went to Pansy's side of the table and sat down. Harry looked shocked when neither Slytherin yelled at her. He hesitantly pulled out the chair next to Draco and sat down. When he caught Hermione's eye, he shook his head and reached into his pocket and pulled out some coins and slapped them onto the table in front of her, noisily.

"Do you mind?" Draco scolded and instantly regretted his tone.

Harry just rolled his eyes and opened his Transfiguration book.

"You're not going to study that, are you?" Hermione asked him.

When he didn't respond, she added, "Why not study Potions or another class? You're already passing Transfigurations with a top grade!"

"Right, like I want to waste my time studying Potions when I already know I'll barely pass due to the jerk of a teacher."

Draco slammed his Potions book shut and pushed it towards Harry. "You could at least _try_ to get good grades in the class."

Harry pushed the book back to Draco. "For your information, I _have_ tried. For years. I am lucky to have made it into 7th year Potions and I think it's only because of Dumbledore."

Draco pushed the book back towards Harry. "I'll help you, if you want."

Harry looked down at the book and said, "What, am I in the Twilight Zone or something?"

"Oh, did you know a wizard created that muggle show?" Draco asked him in a serious tone.

Harry put his head in his hands. "This is _too weird_ for me." He lifted his head and looked at Hermione. "I'll just be going, see you tomorrow morning." He said while standing up.

Pansy elbowed Hermione and gave her a pleading look. It dawned on Hermione that Draco admitted to being gay last night in the tub.

"Harry, please stay. I'll only stay an hour at the most. You know I love your company." Hermione said.

"Yeah, you don't have to leave on account of me." Draco added.

Harry sat back down and pulled out his Transfigurations book and began to read to himself.

"Are you sure you don't want me to help you with Potions?" Draco asked after a minute of silence.

"No thanks." Harry said so quietly they barely heard his response.

About forty-five minutes later, Harry closed his book and looked up at Hermione. "I'm going to head out. Are you staying?"

"For about ten minutes more, yeah. See you in the morning." She replied.

Once Harry had left the table, Hermione looked at Draco and said, "Just a warning: You might want to back off before you get hurt. Harry's already involved with his Quill match and definitely won't be interested in you or anyone else." She squeezed Pansy's thigh and then quickly grabbed her belongings and rushed out the door to catch up with Harry.

Once outside the door, she spotted him. "Wait up." She called out.

Harry turned around and smiled. "Thanks for walking with me."

"It's the least I can do. Thanks for staying with me."

"That was a little odd… sitting with them. I couldn't concentrate because the entire time, I was waiting for one of them to curse me or threaten me."

"Well nothing happened, so you were worrying for no reason."

"I'm not so sure. I wouldn't be surprised if I wake up tomorrow with skin boils or something."

**-o-O-o-**

After the two lions left, Pansy gave Draco a worried expression.

"What?" Draco asked her.

"I'm starting to think you were right about the party a couple of weeks ago being too soon to meet up. Now, I'm wondering if the Halloween Ball might be too soon… He really doesn't trust you at all."

"Obviously. But, I'm not postponing our meeting any longer. Besides, all this hostility from him – I created for myself for being such a git to him. I'll deal with it."

"Did you order the costumes yet?"

"Yes, I did that this morning and put a rush on the order. Should be here by Thursday at the latest."

"You still don't want me to tell Hermione about the match, do you?"

"No, but I'm sure she'll figure it out eventually."

They stopped talking and continued with their homework. Draco thought back to when Harry was sitting beside him. It took all his willpower to keep himself from reaching over and touching the boy. He had also wanted to start talking with Harry, but he knew it was hopeless. He hadn't done enough to gain Harry's trust yet. Harry still viewed Draco as his enemy.

A few minutes later, someone pulled out the chair next to him. He looked up at the younger student and said, "I will chop your fucking legs off if you sit next to me." The girl looked like she was going to faint, and she was quickly dragged off by her small group of friends.

**-o-O-o-**

Classes that week seemed to drag on at an abnormally slow rate, in Harry's opinion. Finally, he woke up and it was Friday morning - the day before the Halloween Ball. As soon as his eyes opened, his stomach started squeezing. He seriously felt like he could be sick at any moment. He started breathing in small gasps and a minute later, Ron was by his side.

"What's wrong?" Ron asked him. "Have another bad dream?"

Harry shook his head.

"Want me to go get a teacher?"

Harry shook his head again. "I'm okay. Go on without me."

"Alright. Just tell me if I can do anything for you."

"Thanks." Harry replied in between his gasping for air.

When all his roommates had been gone for some time, Harry sat up. He was so nervous and excited about the Ball tomorrow, he knew he wouldn't be able to eat anything anytime soon. To say that he had butterflies in his stomach would be more appropriate if you mentioned that they were encased in lead and were having a battle in there, including fighting with cannons, swords, and little butterfly fists.

He knew he had to try to go to breakfast and classes. If anything, he could always say he was sick and come back to bed after seeing Madame Pomfrey.

So he decided to shower later, and got dressed. He showed up at breakfast later than usual and was one of the last students to enter. He went and sat down by Seamus and Ginny, because all the other seats had been taken.

"Are you feeling better Harry? I thought you wouldn't be coming to breakfast." Ron asked him from a few people over.

"I'm okay. Definitely not going to eat anything though." He said, while pushing his plate away.

He heard the flaps of wings and looked up. The owl mail was just coming in. A strange owl dropped off a letter in front of him before it took off again.

He picked up the letter, but didn't recognize the handwriting. He had learned enough about portkeys after fourth year, that he was wary about opening anything coming from random sources.

He took his wand out of his robe and cast a spell to see if the letter contained a portkey. It glowed green, so he knew it was safe. He opened the letter.

Dearest Harry Potter,

I hope the beginning of your school year has gone well - because I plan on making the rest of it very painful for you. We will be meeting soon. I will finish my Master's plan to kill you. You are a pathetic little boy and I will not let you get away with killing the greatest Wizard of all time!

With truest of intentions,

Bellatrix Lestrange

**-o-O-o-**

After reading it, Harry's face drained of color. Furious, he stared at the letter for a couple of minutes before Hermione grabbed it from his shaking hand.

"Oh no. I can't believe the nerve of her! She's mental, for sure, thinking she can win against you."

"What?" Ron asked, taking the letter from Hermione's hand. After reading it, he looked up to Harry and said, "She _is_ mental. She ran off before you killed what's-his-face, she has no clue how powerful you've become. There's no hope for her."

Harry didn't say anything and he didn't notice when Professor Dumbledore had walked up behind him, read the letter Ron was holding, and put his hand on Harry's back.

"Come with me." He told Harry, who stood up zombie-like and followed him to his office.

Draco was watching the entire time. He wanted to know who could have possibly sent the letter that had Harry so angry that he was shaking with fury.

**-o-O-o-**

Sitting in the chair in front of Professor Dumbledore's desk, Harry sighed.

"I was hoping it wouldn't come to this, Harry. I had my hopes on it, that the Aurors would have caught her by now."

Harry just nodded his head.

"We need to talk about security. Do you think we should cancel the Ball tomorrow night?"

"No, sir. I doubt she'll be able to find a way into the Castle. I probably won't even have to worry about her until the Christmas Holiday, if I decide to go anywhere."

"Alright. But promise me if you hear from her again, you will let me know."

"I promise. Sir, I don't really feel like going to my classes today. Can you give me a pass?"

"Of course." Dumbledore said.

After he had the signed paper in his hands, Harry headed back to his room.

Draco noticed that Harry was missing from lunch and also their mutual Herbology class.

He talked Pansy into pulling Hermione aside after class and asking her what was going on.

"Harry got a death threat this morning from Bellatrix Lestrange." Hermione told her.

After Pansy relayed the message to Draco, his face fell.

"Fuck. Fuck. Harry already has trust issues…for which I don't blame him - after having lunatics trying to kill him for his entire life. Why is this happening now?" Draco whined.

"I'm sure he won't hold you responsible for your insane aunt." Pansy tried to assure him.

When Draco reached his bedroom, he immediately noticed his glowing mailbox. He pulled out the parchment.

Dear Mischief,

I hope your day is going good. I was wondering where you are going to put the costume so I can pick it up today and try it on.

Hope to hear from you soon,

Jolt

**-o-O-o-**

Draco let out the breath he had been holding. He thought that Harry might have been writing to cancel their date at the Ball tomorrow. Taking in a full breath of air, he replied:

Dear Jolt,

I am going to put a box with your costume in an empty classroom on the third floor – the one three doors down from the Charms classroom. I will put it in a cabinet and it will have a gray bow on it. Check the classroom sometime tonight after 7pm.

I can't wait to see you tomorrow. I have been excited all day.

Your soon-to-be dance partner,

Mischief

**-o-O-o-**

It was almost dinnertime and Draco wanted to drop off the package before Harry had a chance to 'accidentally' run into him while going to retrieve it. Draco had already opened the package and looked at both costumes. They were beautifully made and exactly how he wanted them. He knew Harry would look amazing in his. He hurried up and wrapped up the package and tied a pretty dark gray bow onto it. He shrunk the package and put it in his pocket. Once he dropped the package off into the classroom, he headed towards the Great Hall for supper.

Harry had been lying in bed since breakfast. He didn't go to any classes or any meals. His friends begged him to come to dinner, but he politely refused. He was too anxious about meeting Mischief tomorrow and a tiny bit worried about the stupid drama with the crazy woman.

Draco was upset when he realized that Harry wasn't coming down for supper. He hoped his friends were taking him food. He, himself, was nervous about the meeting, but at least he already knew who his match was. He could just imagine how Harry was feeling today.

After 7pm, Harry went downstairs to the empty classroom near Charms. He opened all the cabinets until he found the one containing a box with a gray bow. His heart started beating faster as he walked over to a desk and opened it. He was shocked at what he found. There was no way this costume could have been cheap. It looked expensive with all the different fabrics and jewels sewn onto it.

He did a wandless spell to lock the door and quickly tried on the outfit. It fit him perfectly. There was no mirror to look at himself, so he would have to trust that he looked alright until he could get dressed in the bathroom tomorrow.

Harry changed back into his regular clothes and headed out the door with package in hand. He entered his dorm room and Seamus was the first to speak up.

"What's that, you've got, Harry?"

"My costume for the Ball."

"Open it up, let's have a look!"

"You'll get to see it tomorrow."

"No fun!"

Harry smiled as he went to his desk to write a letter to Mischief.

Dear Mischief,

I got my costume and tried it on. It looks better than how I pictured it. How much do I owe you for it?

Are we still meeting up in the Great Hall at 8:30pm tomorrow? I guess you will recognize my costume and I am sure yours will be similar.

See you tomorrow my love,

Jolt

**-o-O-o-**

He sent off the letter and sat on his bed. His roommates were playing exploding snap and invited him to join.

"No thanks, I think I'll just try to get some sleep."

If Harry thought his stomach was a bundle of nerves this morning when he woke up – he couldn't have imagined how much worse his nerves would feel tomorrow.

_-end of chapter-_

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Author's Note: Thanks for reading!


	13. Halloween Ball

Note: This chapter is dedicated to _moonshine and mustard seed_.

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**:Chapter Thirteen: **_**Halloween Ball**_

Immediately after Harry woke up, his first thought was, _'I'm meeting Mischief in just a matter of hours.'_ He sat up and realized that the lead butterflies from yesterday were now igniting fires inside his belly. He felt a hundred times worse. When he opened his eyes, he saw Neville and Seamus at the bottom of his bed; looking side to side, he saw Ron and Dean. Then he remembered his roommates waking him up from his nightmare last night and trying to comfort him until they all just crawled into his bed and fell asleep. He had the most awesome friends.

Ron shifted beside him. "Sleep. Harry…Saturday…" He mumbled.

So Harry scooted back down and stayed there. It's not like he was going to do anything productive anyway… his stomach hurt so much that eating wasn't an option, he would miss his friends camaraderie if she showered alone, and the thought of how cold it was outside the Castle this early almost gave him goosebumps. After a while, he drifted off to sleep again.

The next time he woke up, he was in bed alone. Ron was standing above him, shaking his shoulder.

"We're heading off to shower. You coming with?" Ron asked.

"Yeah, be there in a minute." He answered.

After showering and getting dressed, they all went to the Common Room. Hermione pulled Harry aside.

"Ron told me that you woke everyone up with your screaming last night. When did you start having nightmares again?"

"Last night was the first one in about a month. I usually put a silencing charm up, but I guess I forgot."

"You should tell Dumbledore. Also see if Madame Pomfrey will give you a sleeping draught, for when you wake up having one. Ron said it took a while to get you calm enough to fall back asleep again."

"Okay, I will." Harry said, looking slightly embarrassed.

They walked down to the Great Hall for breakfast. Harry refused to eat anything, no matter how hard Hermione pressed him.

"You haven't eaten in two days! Just have a piece of toast or something."

"I'm not hungry." Harry told her and ignored the look she gave him.

Glancing around the Hall, Harry realized that Mischief was probably sitting there, in the same room as him, eating breakfast. He never thought about it like that before. He started laughing and then placed his forehead on the table. Hermione, who had taken to sitting beside him instead of across from him for the past couple of weeks, leaned over.

She whispered, "What's so funny?"

He tilted his head to the side and said, "It's stupid really, but I just realized that I wasn't even a tenth this nervous when I was heading off to battle Voldemort during the Last Battle."

"What are you so nervous about?" Hermione asked him. "I thought you were sure about your feelings for him."

"I am sure about how I feel. But what if we meet and _he_ doesn't like _me_? What if he doesn't want to deal with dating me, knowing that his name will be smeared all over the front page and he'll probably get a ton of howlers from ten year old girls with crushes on me or doesn't think I can be faithful because I supposedly have tons of people throwing themselves at me, or all the other issues I've dealt with in the past. What if he hates that I am part muggle? That's something we've never discussed. Or, oh no, what if he is a Slytherin and I'm responsible for one of his relatives being in Azkaban or dead?"

"I'll admit - that is a lot to worry about. But, I'm sure everything will be fine. The Sorting Hat wouldn't have matched you up with someone like that."

"Good point. You're smart." Harry said while lifting his head off the table. "That actually makes me feel a bit better, thanks."

"Good, are you going to eat now?"

"Definitely not. I still don't think I could stomach anything, but I promise to eat when I get hungry."

"Good."

"Oi." Called Ron. "What are we doing today?"

On Saturdays, they usually left the castle and did something athletic, whether it was playing Quidditch, Volleyball, swimming in the lake, jogging around the lake, or any other sports and activities they could come up with.

"Well, it's cold outside, but I think if we could get to the Quidditch Pitch before anyone else, we should practice some. We are playing against Slytherin next week, after all."

"Only the official Gryffindor team can play today?" Seamus asked.

"No, anyone can play. It's not an actual Team practice. Actually, I won't even play Seeker today. Let's just have fun."

His classmates seemed excited. As soon as they noticed a group of Ravenclaws standing up to leave the hall together, the Gryffindor students stood up and rushed out of the hall, making many people wonder what was going on.

Harry, Seamus, Hermione, and a few other students ran off towards the Pitch, while Ron, Ginny, Dean and some other students ran up to their dorms to grab scarves, gloves, brooms, and other equipment.

After a few minutes, the students outside were hovering close together for body heat and blocking the entrance to the broom shed so the Ravenclaw students wouldn't have equipment to take the Pitch.

Hermione leaned over and whispered to Harry, "What if your match is a Ravenclaw?"

Harry nodded and said, "Who's in charge here for Ravenclaw?" He spotted Terry Boot and said, "Let's play together. We'll mix up the teams so it isn't Gryffindor against Ravenclaw. Also, anyone on an official House team can't play their regular position."

"Sounds good." Terry said.

The Gryffindor team moved out of the way of the broom shed and let the other students go in and grab school brooms and the chest containing the Quaffle, Bludgers, and Snitch.

Harry leaned over to Seamus and said, "Figures that Ravenclaw would know to show up to breakfast already wearing their winter clothing!"

Seamus responded, "Yeah, us Gryffindors just take life as it comes – why think ahead when we know we'll just jump into whatever we feel like doing for the day?"

All the students overheard and laughed.

Hermione leaned over and said, "Body heat, people!" And all the Gryffindors got back into their huddle mode to preserve heat.

By the time the rest of the Gryffindor students walked onto the Pitch, all of Ravenclaw was in the air flying around. Harry jogged over to Ron to grab his scarf and gloves. Then he took his broom and thanked Ron for bringing his stuff out.

"What's this? You couldn't hold them off from taking the Pitch?" Ron asked.

"Well, we decided to play together." Harry answered. Ron nodded.

A few minutes later, all the students were in the air. They chose mixed teams and positions. There were too many students, so some of them had to sit out the first game. Hermione spelled the Snitch to fly a bit slow and be somewhat brighter, otherwise the game could take up many hours - which wouldn't be a bad thing if it were an official game and no one else was waiting to use the Pitch.

Before the game started, Harry looked around and noticed a ton of students were now sitting in the stands watching. They were all sitting in one stand, regardless of what House they were in. His eyes fell upon a particular blond Slytherin. How could he not notice? Malfoy had the palest blond hair of anyone he'd ever seen. The whistle started and Harry immediately turned his attention to the game.

Draco was watching the game with much interest. It wasn't very often he got to watch Harry play other positions. As Chaser, Harry's job was to get as many points for the team as he could, by throwing the Quaffle through one of the three golden hoops at the end, and hopefully avoid being hit by either bludger.

Harry scored a couple of goals - which was fun to watch because he has natural skills when it comes to flying with his broom. After about half an hour, Harry's team lost even though they had scored the most goals. Dean had caught the Snitch for the winning team. Harry and his teammates congratulated the winners and then flew off to watch the second match from the stands.

Harry was sitting with his team watching the new game when Pansy yelled from the other end of the stand, "Hey Potter. Your female friend seems to be playing pretty well."

He glanced at the Pitch and then yelled, "Of course. Hermione's amazing at anything she does."

Pansy leaned over to Draco and whispered, "Don't I know it!"

Draco's guard dropped and real smile appeared on his face. Harry wasn't sure if he had ever seen a smile like that on the blonde boy's face. Immediately it disappeared and was replaced with a look of indifference.

After the second game, Harry and his team jumped off the stands and flew onto the field to congratulate the winning team.

"You played great today, Hermione!" Harry said and then he congratulated the rest of her team. Everyone left the Pitch and headed back to the castle because the weather was getting colder.

Hermione was walking so slow that Harry and her were the last two people to enter the castle. Ron had already taken off with Luna. When they entered through the doors, Pansy and Draco were standing there, almost as if waiting.

"You played a great game, Hermione." Pansy cooed to her.

"Thank you." Hermione said while blushing.

They walked ahead, leaving Harry and Draco behind.

"So, you play Chaser pretty well." Draco acknowledged.

"Thanks." Harry said, noticing that he was now alone with Draco. "Do you… want something, Malfoy?"

Draco just shrugged his shoulders. A few seconds later, he added, "So the Halloween Ball is tonight."

"Yeah." Harry said, his face now lighting up.

Draco's heart sped up and he resisted the urge to grab the green-eyed boy and plant a kiss on those soft looking lips.

"Come on Draco!" Pansy shouted from ahead. Draco gave a brief nod in Harry's direction and started walking towards Pansy.

Hermione fell back to walk with Harry.

As soon as they were alone, Harry said, "What was that about?"

"Oh, she was just complimenting me on my playing today." Hermione answered.

"I swear, those two are up to something."

"With those two, I'm sure there's _always_ something going on... But for now, don't worry about it." Hermione looked down at her watch and said, "Let's see. It's 2pm now – which means we have six hours before the Ball starts. Let's get back to the Common Room and see what everyone's up to."

After climbing up all the flights of stairs, they gave the password to the Fat Lady and walked through the portrait. It seemed a party of sorts was happening. Everyone was loud and excited and music was playing from somewhere. Someone rushed up and pulled Hermione into the mix of people. Harry was offered a butterbeer, which he gladly accepted.

"It's a pre-party Party, Harry." Ron said cheerfully.

Parvati Patil walked up to Harry and said, "I saw you dancing at the Hufflepuff party a couple weeks ago. How come you never danced like that with me in fourth year?"

"Um. I was too nervous and besides, ballroom dancing is not the same thing as club dancing."

"Well, you should dance at least one song with me tonight if you get a chance." Parvati said as she walked off.

"Sure." Harry said, although he wasn't sure if she heard.

Neville stopped by and told Harry that his mailbox was glowing. Harry set off with a fast pace to the stairs leading to the boy's dormitories.

Once inside, he retrieved the parchment and unrolled it.

Dear Jolt,

I am relieved that the Ball is tonight. I am not sure I could have waited much longer to meet up with you. I will admit that I am a tad bit nervous, but mostly just excited. How are you feeling today?

I think we should meet up around 8:30. You can go ahead into the Great Hall. I know what your costume looks like, so I can find you easily. Maybe stay near one of the walls though, just so I'm not getting bounced around by all the dancers while looking for you.

Eagerly yours,

Mischief

**-o-O-o-**

Putting the parchment down, Harry realized his right hand was holding his necklace through his shirt. This was something that he noticed he did a lot of recently. Letting go of it, he wrote a quick reply and sent it off; then he went back downstairs to the party.

His nerves were getting worse, but he noticed that while he was with his friends laughing and talking, he didn't feel as bad. Around 6pm, everyone started heading to the showers to get ready. That was when his nerves came back tri-fold.

Harry went upstairs and showered. Then he went into his room and retrieved the box from his wardrobe. With shaking hands, he pulled the costume out of its box. He took more time to look at it than yesterday. It was a dark shade of burgundy, which he assumed would look great with his eyes. The dark shade showed off the embroidery as well as the precious stones that were sewn onto the brocade fabric. There were black velvet parts near the waistline and sleeves; as well as slashings in the fabric so you could see some of the cream of the undershirt showing through it.

He put on the pants first, which true to Mischief's word, were full length instead of knee length. Then he added the layers of shirts, which the top one had a stand-up collar and puff sleeves. There was a dagger in sheath that he attached to his waistline. Then he added the short cloak that was all black. Last, he put on the broad toed shoes.

When he turned around, his roommates were all standing behind him with their jaws hanging open.

"Bloody hell, Harry. Where'd you get that costume from?" Ron asked.

"My Quill-Pal sent it to me."

Ron looked down at his costume and made a noise.

"You look good as the Grim Reaper, Ron." Harry told him. "And you make a great surgeon, Seamus. Nice Vampire costume, Dean! That cowboy outfit looks really good on you, Neville – those chaps really add a nice touch." Harry complimented them.

Harry turned back to his bed and gently picked the mask up. It was a full-faced mask made with feathers and material, it looked like an owl face. He loved it. The colors were beige, dark brown, dark yellow, and a few burgundy colors here and there.

He put it on and faced his friends.

"It's amazing." Seamus said. Everyone nodded.

"Thanks, I'll stop and check it out in the bathroom mirror before I head out."

Harry sat down on the bed because his legs suddenly felt like they were going to give out. A moment later, he was heading towards the bathroom at breakneck speed. He went into a stall and was standing in front of the toilet - willing himself to not get sick. Every minute that ticked closer to 8pm, make his hands sweaty and his stomach hurt worse.

**-o-O-o-**

Draco was downstairs getting dressed after his shower. He hoped Harry liked the costume he designed for him. Draco's was very similar. The main color was a dark green and it had dark brown velvet near the waist and on the sleeves, with slashing to show the cream color of the undershirt. There were matching stones and embroidery on the brocade fabric. His short cape was dark brown, and he had the same broad toed shoes as Harry. He put his matching dagger onto his waist. His face-covering was of a Barbastelle Bat, so instead of feathers, there were many shades of soft brown hair all over and even some velvet pieces; inside the short ears was soft pink material. And just to make the mask match the costume - there were a few shades of green placed near the edges.

When he finally had his outfit on, his roommates complimented him. He waved his hand, "Of course I look good. I always look good." Draco stated.

Vincent and Gregory were wearing Tweedle-Dum and Tweedle-Dee costumes. "How appropriate." Draco commented.

Blaise was wearing a Dementor costume. "Hey you, stay away from my man later." Draco said, trying to stifle a laugh.

"Who is your man?" Blaise asked.

"You'll see later."

Draco left the room and walked towards the Great Hall. It was almost 8:30. He wasn't that nervous. He knew he was going to go in and take what belonged to him, which was something he had been doing his entire life. He walked to the open doors and paused to take in the scene.

The lights were off but there were thousands of candles floating in the air above, making the room very dim. There was a famous rock band playing loudly on the set-up stage in the far left corner of the hall. Many students were already dancing, but quite a few were standing on the sides talking to their friends. A lot of the costumes he saw were very elaborate looking and some were comical.

Draco felt a hand on his back and he turned to see who it was.

"Well Elizabeth Bathory, you're looking mighty young and beautiful tonight." He told Pansy. "And I take it this is your next victim?" He asked while nodding towards Hermione, who was wearing a tight and very revealing peasant outfit.

"Yes, now you go get him." Pansy said while placing a kiss on the cheek of his mask. "You look handsome, by the way."

The two girls took off towards the dance floor.

Draco headed towards the left wall and started to search for Harry's costume. He hadn't spotted him yet, so he passed the stage and started walking near where the teacher's tables usually were set up. After walking down the entire length of that wall, he finally spotted Harry near the corner and his heart lept. Harry had his back to him and was looking towards the main doors.

Draco walked up to him, placed his hands on Harry's hips, leaned near his ear and said, "Jolt?"

Harry immediately turned around and said, "Mischief?" Draco nodded.

Harry's heart started beating even more rapidly than before. He had been waiting for this moment for almost half an hour, and at this point his legs were shaking so much he could barely stand up. He just knew that he was meeting someone who would play a huge roll in the rest of his life.

Immediately they leaned in towards each other and a heartbeat later Harry was surrounded by two strong arms.

Harry hugged him back and said, "You're real." He was thankful that his mask was covering his entire face, because he didn't want Mischief to see his eyes threatening with tears of happiness.

"Yes, I am." Mischief replied, squeezing tighter.

"These costumes are amazing." Harry said. He leaned back, cocked his head to the side and said, "You make a pretty bat."

Harry couldn't see his smile, but heard Mischief answer, "You make a beautiful owl."

Harry leaned forward, back into the hug and they stood like that for a while. The hug was a tight one and Harry wasn't sure if it was his own heart he was feeling beat rapidly, if it was the other boys, or a mixture of the two. Eventually the music calmed down and they started slow dancing together in the corner. A couple of songs later the music started getting faster, but the two boys continued dancing slowly in each other's arms.

Harry felt that he fit perfectly into Mischief's arms. Not that anyone could see, but he had a smile on his face that couldn't possibly be faked. He started running his hands up and down Mischief's back which only made the other boy lean closer to him and make content noises. Harry wanted to kiss him very much. His stomach now felt like the butterflies had sprouted arms and were playing tug-of-war with his insides.

After what seemed to be a couple of hours, Harry was still thinking about kissing the other boy, but was unsure. Yes, he had spent the summer snogging Brent, but this felt entirely different. Suddenly, as if Mischief was reading his mind – he stopped dancing and took Harry's face into his hands. With his thumbs, he slid the mask up to reveal his lips. He could see Jolt take a quick breath in. "Don't worry." Mischief assured him. He traced Jolt's lips with his thumb. "Now close your eyes." He told Jolt, whose eyes fell shut behind his mask. Mischief lifted his own mask so that his mouth was showing. He leaned in and brushed his lips on the other boy's. He could feel Harry's body give in to shivers. Draco dropped his hands and pulled Harry to him. Both bodies were breathing quickly and Draco's body was absorbing Harry's tremors. Moments later Draco leaned in and seized the soft lips in front of him.

In his entire life, Harry had never felt this wanted before. Those lips felt like they were claiming him forever. The kiss was so gentle and passionate, Harry was sure this was the best he had ever felt in his life. Mischief's mouth opened to him and he opened his in return. His tongue barely made it a centimeter before he felt the warm silken tongue meet his. Harry's stomach sent shooting stars throughout his body and he whimpered into the other boy's mouth.

Draco had to suppress a smile. He had been waiting for this moment for years. His body felt faint at the thought that he could cause this much pleasure to Harry, with only kissing. ---

After many minutes the kiss slowly trailed off. Harry leaned back and said, "Let me see your face." He saw Mischief nod as he slowly lifted his mask the rest of the way off. Harry removed his mask as well and had a dreamy look in his face. That is, until he recognized the beauty before him. Then his face turned to disbelief and shock. Draco leaned forward him to kiss again, but before he could meet his lips, Harry shoved him off saying, "You!" Harry then spun around and left Draco standing there.

Draco sighed and followed him, finally catching up with him outside the Great Hall. He grabbed Harry's arm and forcefully pushed him into an empty room and blocked his getaway.

"Wait Harry, let's talk about this." He demanded gently. Harry was still trying to get around him. "I know you're not happy to see me, but can't we at least talk?"

Harry placed his mask onto an empty desk and yelled, "You, you... liar! You already knew it was me, didn't you!" Seeing Malfoy's eyes shift towards the ground, he added, "Is this why you strung me along for months, making me wait to meet up? So you would have enough time to make me fall for some _imaginary_ person - making the joke even worse! I thought I was falling in love - but it ends up you were faking the whole thing!"

He grabbed at Draco's arms – who was momentarily stunned - and searched for the bracelet he made for Mischief. "Ah ha! Damn it. I _was_ writing to you this whole time! I'll admit, thought, this is a great payback for me sending your dad to Azkaban twice, right!"

He muttered some thing that Draco couldn't make out and started yanking on Draco's arm to try and remove the bracelet.

Draco finally got over his shock and started moving his arm around so Harry couldn't reach it. Then Draco placed both arms behind his own back. The only thing that Harry achieved while trying to grab at Draco's arm, was getting them to stand face to face very closely. Draco tilted his head and kissed Harry. Their lips stayed together seconds before Harry came to his senses.

He quickly stepped back and said, "Fine - keep it! But you can have this back." He lifted the necklace off his neck and held his hand out with it. Draco put his hand out and caught the necklace in his palm. While Draco was staring at the necklace in his hand - surprised that Harry didn't throw it at him, Harry snuck around him and bolted out of the room.

By the time he got his wits back, Draco set his mask down with Harry's and started out the door to find him again. When he made it to the hall, he called out Harry's name but didn't see him anywhere. Fury finally started to take over and Draco stormed into the Great Hall and found Pansy dancing. She saw the look on his face and followed him out of the room, with Hermione trailing both of them. He led her to the same empty room that the masks were in.

"What happened?" Pansy asks Draco.

"I let him know that I was his match, and he yelled at me and took off!" Draco said.

"Who is your… oh no. It's Harry, isn't it?" Hermione guessed.

Pansy nodded.

"Why didn't you tell me? I could have tried to help some how!" Hermione said loudly.

"Well I knew he wouldn't take it well, but I never imagined it would go this badly!" Draco yelled.

"What? You already knew he was your match before tonight? How did you know - was this a set up?" Hermione accused.

"Who else would that damn Hat match me up with? No one else would be good enough!" Draco said, not caring how vain it sounded.

"Draco's been in love with him for years, Hermione. It only took a couple weeks for him to figure out who his Quill-Pal was." Pansy told her.

"Fine, let me go talk to him. I'm sure he needs some consoling right about now." Hermione said.

**-o-O-o-**

Harry ran up the stairs and practically exploded through the portrait. The Common Room was empty, not that he noticed through the tears threatening to fall. He went into his room and closed all the curtains around his bed and spelled them so no one could open them or hear anything. He was trying to get control over himself - but all he could think about was that Mischief had lied to him. Harry had actually believed that he found his soulmate and now he felt empty and alone. He couldn't believe that his enemy could ever stoop that low. Trying to hold his tears in, his broken heart finally got the best of him. He felt the tears falling down his cheeks, warming it. At some point, he had started to cry in loud sobs. After a few minutes, he felt like he was going to pass out and his face was numb.

At some point between sobs, he heard someone outside of his canopy yelling.

"Harry! I can't hear you, but I know you're in there. I'm going to sit right here by your bed and sleep on the floor, if I have to. I am not leaving until you talk to me!"

No answer.

"Listen, I knew Draco had a crush on you but I didn't know he was your match until a few minutes ago. You practically destroyed him."

Harry took the spells off his canopy and asked, "You believe that?" With a voice that gave away that he had been crying.

Hermione stood up and crawled into the bed and put her arms around him. "Well, I've been seeing Pansy for a couple of weeks now..."

"You never told me." Harry said between sobs.

"Well, we wanted to keep it to ourselves for a while..." Hermione said, adding, "She guarantees me that Draco isn't lying about his feeling for you. He didn't fake anything in the letters."

"Well, sorry if I find it a little suspicious that my biggest school enemy for _years_ suddenly tells me he has romantic feelings towards me – just months after I get his father sent to Azkaban for the second time! It's a little much to take in and a bit hard to believe." Harry said while wiping tears from his eyes. "Sure, I can take a joke, but the biggest thing I am upset about is that now I know my soulmate isn't real. It almost feels like someone intensely important to me has died. It's like Sirius all over again…"

"Oh, Harry, I'm so sorry. I wish you didn't feel like this." Hermione said while smoothing his hair, "I am curious though, how come you seem okay with me dating Pansy, but you won't believe that Draco has feelings for you?"

"Oh come on! How many times has she done anything to us? None that I can think of – sure, she's always stood in the background laughing, but from my knowledge she has never participated in any of the cruel jokes or hexes. How can I believe Malfoy when he has done nothing but play tricks on me and harass me almost every single day since I started coming to this school?! Besides, his Aunt is trying to kill me and how do you know he isn't a part of her plan? Just last week, Malfoy tried to hex me at Hogsmeade!"

"But Harry-" Hermione started, but Harry cut her off.

"Listen, tomorrow you can try and talk some sense into me - but please just leave me alone for the rest of the night... I can't believe I waited all day for this, making myself sick to my stomach when I should have just stayed in bed this morning."

Harry started crying again, his throat constricting very tightly.

"Okay, but let me know if you want company or anything." Hermione told him. She bent down to kiss the top of his head and left the room.

As the Fat Lady portrait was shutting behind her, Hermione's only thought was to find Pansy. Draco suddenly appeared and tried to get past her, but the portrait had already shut by then.

"What's the password?" He demanded.

"I can't tell you. Besides, he really needs to be alone right now. He's not doing too well."

"That's why I'm here. I need to talk to him!"

"Trust me, things will only get worse if you go in there and try to talk to him right now. He's crying his eyes out."

"Please, I need to see him!"

"No, Draco. If you really care about him, you'll leave him alone."

"Fine!" Draco says as he turns around and storms down the staircase towards the Dungeons.

Once he entered his room, he was beyond furious. He walked to his desk and with a swing of his arm, dumped everything onto the floor. He picked up the bottle of ink and threw the jar against the wall, breaking it. He then headed to his wardrobe and threw all of the contents out. He reached out to his vanity and dumped the entire thing to the ground. Then he took the paintings off the wall and kicked holes through them. Finally, exhausted, he threw himself onto his bed.

'_I'm not going to cry. I'm not going to cry.'_ He started chanting to himself. But then he thought about Harry upstairs crying, and a sob escaped from his lips. That's all it took. Suddenly his eyes started releasing its tears and he found himself crying for the first time since he was a small child.

"Draco?" Pansy said.

"Go away."

"Are you… are you crying?" She asked while sitting down on his bed.

"No! Go away."

"I've know you you're entire life and I have never seen you cry before."

"And you won't be seeing it this time either. Just leave."

"Okay, but just one question first. Is he worth all this?"

"Yes." Draco answered, and started crying again, suddenly not caring if Pansy saw him.

"Alright, I'll leave." Pansy said as she closed his curtains and put a silencing charm on them, so his roommates wouldn't hear him when they came in. She looked over to Hermione and held up a finger to her mouth so she would know not to talk. Both girls set the vanity upright and fixed some of the repairable items, along with making the clothes go back into the wardrobe. The rest, they piled up next to the trashcan.

Both girls silently left. Once outside the room, they looked at each other.

"Well, now I know Draco definitely isn't faking it." Hermione said.

"Hopefully Harry will realize this too."

"I'm sure he will. He just needs time. You don't know what it feels like to be tormented by Draco for years."

"Thankfully, I don't." Pansy said with a small smile.

"So what do we do now?"

"We can go back to the ball and drink butterbeer until our livers fall out. It's hard not being able to comfort your best friend when you know he needs it."

"Agreed." Said Hermione.

Both girls left the Dungeons and headed back to the Ball, with sad looks on their faces.

_-end of chapter-_

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Note One: Please, no death threats to me or my plot bunnies. I love them too much. And yeah, my heart was sad for Draco after the confrontation! I wanted to yell, _'Play nice!'_ - to Harry, but he wasn't listening…

Note Two: Brocade (weaving), is thick heavy fabric into which raised patterns have been woven. It is usually shiney, from my fabric shopping experience, anyway.

Note Three: Yes, some of you may have recognized a hint of lyrics from The Cure's _'Close to Me'_ song, in this chapter. Notice I said hint, it's not word for word.


	14. Gryffindor vs Slytherin Quidditch Game

Note One: Yet again, thanks and dedication to _moonshine and mustard seed_.

Note Two: Thanks to _fifespice_ for catching my Pince/Hooch error (that is now corrected)!

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**:Chapter Fourteen: **_**Gryffindor vs Slytherin Quidditch Game**_

Hermione woke up feeling uncomfortable. When she looked down, she realized why. She had fallen asleep in her costume from last night, which was very tight and constricting. Getting up, she quickly changed into some comfortable pajamas and rushed out the door.

A few minutes later, she cracked a door open and peered into the room. Noticing that all the boys were still asleep, she tiptoed towards Harry's bed and crawled in, thankful that he hadn't put another spell on the curtains after she left.

"Uhhh." He groaned.

"Morning Harry. I just wanted to come check on you. How do you feel?"

"Nnnhhh. Head hurts." Harry said into his pillow.

"I'll get you something for that. You look like you've been crying the whole night. Did you get any sleep?"

"Not really."

"I'll be right back." Hermione said as she got up. Five minutes later, she was placing a couple of pills into Harry's hand and a glass of water into the other.

After he swallowing the pills, he handed her the glass and lay back down.

"You said we could talk today, remember?" Hermione said.

"Can it wait until later? Right now's too early."

"Sure, if you eat breakfast with me."

"I'm really not hungry though."

"And I really don't care. You're going to eat."

"Okay, can we eat some where besides the Great Hall?"

"You can't avoid _him_ forever!"

"I know."

"Hermione? Is that you?" Ron asked nearby.

"Yes."

"No offense, but it's Sunday. Some of us are trying to sleep." Ron said, as he pulled the curtains back from Harry's bed, climbed in and got under the covers. "What's going on? Harry, what's wrong?"

"He met his Quill-Pal last night." Hermione offered when Harry didn't.

"Oh right! How'd that go?"

"My match is Draco Malfoy." Harry said, finally speaking up.

"Malfoy? No bloody way! It's a mistake, right?"

"Ron, the Sorting Hat knows what he's doing!" Hermione said.

"Right, so some how he tricked it?"

"No, Ronald! Harry's match _is_ Draco Malfoy."

"But it has to be a set up!"

"Why is that?"

"Because just last week, I caught Malfoy harassing Harry right outside of my brother's store."

"Well, I'm sure it wasn't what it seemed."

"Suuure." Ron announced, looking like he didn't believe her. "Well, this was fun. Maybe next time we have a morning chat we should try it in your room, Hermione." Ron said with a wink.

"Ronald!"

"Oh right, the Sliding Stairs of Doom! How could I forget?" Ron said as he stood up. "Do you want to talk about it, Harry?" Ron asked.

Harry shook his head. "Not right now, but thanks."

"All right, I'll see you two at breakfast." Ron announced as he stood up and walked over to his own bed.

"Bye Ron." Hermione called after him. "And I'll see you in a couple hours, Harry." Hermione said, giving Harry a hug before getting to her feet.

"Sure." He answered.

**-o-O-o-**

The next time Harry woke up, it was because his roommates were awake and having a very loud and animated conversation about the Ball last night.

"Yeah, but did you see her costume? I swear towards the end of the night, her funbags were almost hanging out!"

"No, they weren't! You just had too much to drink by then!"

"Can you believe that Hermione's match is Pansy Parkinson?" Someone else asked.

"I know! And they both looked so happy at the beginning of the dance, making out on the dance floor! Who would have ever guessed?"

"Yeah, but did you see them at the end of the night? It almost looked like they got into a fight or something."

"Hey, do any of you know who Harry's match ended up being?"

"Ron, you know, right?"

"Um, well, I think you should ask Harry that. It's really his news to tell."

The next thing Harry knew, he had a few hyper boys jumping on him in bed.

Seamus was shaking his shoulders and Dean was trying to tickle his feet.

"So, who's the lucky guy?" Seamus asked.

"I really don't want to go into it yet."

"Was it that bad?"

"Yeah."

"Hm.. Colin Creevey?"

"Stop guessing. I'll just say no even if you're right."

"Oh, you're no fun!" Seamus said as he climbed off Harry's bed and walked towards Ron and put his arm around his shoulder. "Time to shower and go eat."

"Seamus!" Harry shouted.

"Yeah?" Seamus mischieviously asked.

"Don't go trying to bribe it out of Ron either. He's not allowed to say."

"Oh fine!" Seamus responded while walking away from Ron, as if caught.

Harry got up out of bed, hoping that his face didn't give away the fact that he had been crying almost the entire night.

Out of habit, he looked at his mailbox. He wasn't sure why, but he was slightly disappointed to see that it wasn't glowing, not that he really expected it to be. After all, the joke was over and Malfoy had clearly won the round. He wondered how long it would be before the entire school knew about it. His heart gave a lurch when he realized that Malfoy could even show people his letters to get an even better revenge on him!

Realizing this, he considered refusing to go to breakfast with Hermione.

Less than an hour later, after the shower and getting ready, Harry was in his room pretending to look busy, but Hermione caught on and practically dragged him towards the Great Hall. The closer they got, the more struggling Harry put up. He fully expected to enter the room and have everyone waiting for him to show up so they could all hold up his letters and laugh at him. Though, what actually happened when Hermione pulled him through the door was a complete shock to him.

Not only were people not laughing at him, but they didn't seem to even know about the joke Malfoy pulled on him yet. In fact, the only stares happening that morning were towards Hermione. Harry assumed people were still shocked about seeing her with Pansy last night.

"See Harry, nothing to worry about." Hermione said, not caring about the looks she got.

"Wait until the newspaper arrives." Harry said.

Hermione sat down and started filling her plate. She put some pancakes onto Harry's plate and glared at him. He picked up his fork and took a bite. He ate a few bites and then couldn't stomach any more.

When the owls came in with the mail, Harry actually considered getting up and running out of the hall, but when he saw Hedwig flying towards him, his feet became frozen to its spot. He immediately wondered if the letter could be from Malfoy with a threat of blackmail. Suddenly having courage to do something he had been wanting to do since he first walked through the door, he glanced towards the Slytherin table, certain he would see a blond boy sitting there with a very smug look on his face.

For the second time that morning, he was wrong. Malfoy's usual seat was empty and he wasn't anywhere at his table.

By the time Hedwig dropped off the letter, Hermione had already placed her newspaper on top of Harry's empty plate.

"Nothing, see. It would have made the front page for sure." Hermione pointed out.

Relief washed through Harry, then he picked up the letter. It was from Brent. He quickly opened it. It was the typical, _'How are you, how are things going with this guy you say you are 'sort of' seeing, hopefully we can hang out if you come back during Holiday break,'_ etcetera type of letter. Harry pocketed it, telling himself that he would reply later.

About ten minutes later he noticed Malfoy entering the Hall. Harry watched him walk in and sit down next to Pansy. He waited for Malfoy to look up at him, so he could try to figure out what the boy's next move was, but he couldn't catch his eye.

Eventually Harry and his friends left the Great Hall.

Draco watched Harry leave, with regret filling his stomach. He wanted to run over to the boy and explain how he felt, but he knew it wouldn't do any good.

"Harry looks like he didn't get any sleep. He looks like crap, actually." Pansy said.

"Well thankfully my mother taught me a spell to make you appear well rested. Luckily, it also removes all the evidence of crying and baggy eyes. Otherwise, I would look the same as him, because I definitely feel like crap."

"I'm shocked you didn't go running after him when he was leaving, just now."

"Well I'm not chasing after him forever. If he doesn't want to be with me, fine. I guess I'm just damned to be miserable for the rest of my life. Hey - if I can't be happy, at least I can make my jailbird Father happy. Maybe I'll go find some girl who is good breeding stock - marry and have a bunch of kids to carry on the family name."

"Keep thinking that. Maybe if you say it enough times, you'll actually start to believe it. Besides, if you run off and find some random girl to give your Malfoy fortune to after I finally found someone I'm willing to settle down with, I swear I will Avada Kedavra her."

**-o-O-o-**

Harry spent the rest of the day sulking in his bedroom. The first few people who offered their concern was shooed off by Ron. Eventually, everyone just left him alone.

He went to bed early that night, although he still didn't get much sleep. He refused to let himself cry over the incident again, so he just stayed up pitying himself until he finally drifted off. Unfortunately, a couple hours later, he woke up from having nightmares and refused to go back to sleep again.

The next morning was Monday and Harry didn't feel like he could be very productive. He didn't want to go to classes, but he assumed they would help take his mind off the Malfoy issue.

Again, the first thing he noticed after he woke up was his non-glowing mailbox. He wanted to kick himself for even looking.

After breakfast, when Harry and Ron were walking towards the Quidditch Pitch, Harry spotted Malfoy ahead of him.

Groaning, Harry said, "I forgot he even had this class."

"Don't worry about him mate, I've got your back." Ron said.

"Thanks." Harry said, smiling.

After the stretches, which Harry almost couldn't do, due to his lack of sleep, lack of energy, and lack of want, all of the students took to the air.

"Today, we're going to practice some extreme moves, so I hope you all brought some energy." Madame Hooch said after casting the Sonorus spell. She continued to give them all directions and then let the dozen bludgers into the air.

Class had been going all right for Draco. He didn't get much sleep last night and didn't feel like coming to class. He would much rather have stayed in bed for the rest of the week – but his Malfoy pride wouldn't let him.

Hearing something coming towards him at a fast speed broke him out of his daydream and Draco did one of the new moves they were learning and then used his bat to hit the bludger away from him. They had been at this for over half an hour and his arm was starting to get tired. Some of the students were getting so hot from practicing, you could see them hurrying to take of their winter jackets and drop them. Looking down, there were random coats and scarves all over the ground of the Pitch.

Draco had just happened to glance over and see that Harry was about to hit a bludger. Harry was focused on the one in front of him, holding his bat out to swing - when another one whacked him on the arm he was using to hold onto his broom; he almost fell off. The bludger that he missed batting, due to getting hit in the arm, continued forward until it collided with his gut. Harry aimed his broom towards the ground, and flew down one-handed and hunched over.

Madame Hooch noticed this and started to fly down. She pointed at the first person she saw, and said, "You, follow me."

Draco turned to Theo and said, "You stay, I'll go take care of this." With what he hoped was a smug look on his face and hoping Ron was too busy to notice that Harry got hit.

When Draco made it to the ground, Madame Hooch was kneeling down next to a hunched over Harry, checking out his arm.

"Yes, your arm is definitely broken and you need to get your body looked at. I'm surprised Harry, you're a natural dodger. Are you feeling okay today?"

Trying not to show the pain he was in from having the two iron bludgers hit him, he answered, "I'm a little tired, haven't slept much lately. I think maybe I shouldn't have come to class." He said, while being thankful that he didn't eat much at breakfast, otherwise he would be throwing up everything right then.

"Okay, well I'm sending you to see Madame Pomfrey. And you," she said while pointing at Draco, "go with him to make sure he gets there okay."

Harry didn't bother to look up as someone grabbed his arm and helped him to his feet. He was too busy hunching over, holding his stomach, and squeezing his eyes shut. His feet started walking in the direction that the arm was guiding him. He kind of assumed it was Ron helping him, until a second hand started rubbing circles on his back.

Harry opened his eyes and looked over. He was so shocked to see Malfoy standing next to him, that he completely stopped walking.

"Hi Harry. Can we talk?" Draco asked, breaking the silence when he noticed that Harry was gawking at him.

Pulling his arm out of Malfoy's hold, Harry said, "Sure we can talk - the jokes over after all. You should be proud of yourself because you totally fooled me!" He said in a mocking tone. "When are you going to contact Rita Skeeter and sell her the story? I'm sure the Wizarding World would love to hear how easily The Great Harry Potter fell for some imaginary person."

"Stop acting like that! I meant everything I said to you, _Jolt_! What is it going to take for you to believe me?"

"For Mischief to be someone else. Anyone else! I just find it very convenient that you knew it was me the whole time. Perfect set up, really."

"I wasn't sure it _was _you until the second week after we started writing." Draco said, clearly getting upset.

Harry then remembered the letter from Draco's Aunt. "I'm curious. Do you think it's funny that your wonderful Aunt Bellatrix is threatening to kill me?"

That did it. Draco was furious. "What would make you think that? The fact that I was beaten within an inch of my life by my father when I refused to take the Dark Mark last year? My mother spent the entire summer healing me and hiding me from my father so he couldn't hand me over to the Dark Lord after I disobeyed him."

Harry looked shocked and started to walk off towards the castle, not sure what to say.

Draco reached out and grabbed Harry's arm to finish walking him to the hospital wing.

"Look, I'm fine Malfoy, I can get there on my own." Harry says, shaking his arm out of Malfoy's grasp again.

"The teacher told me to make sure you get there okay, so now I'm bound." Draco said while grabbing Harry's arm for the third time - thankful that Harry didn't have his wand on him; they always locked them up for Quidditch games and practices. Of course if he did have it on him, it most likely would have been snapped in half by the second bludger that hit him.

Harry stopped fighting and let Malfoy guide him through the castle. They made it up the first flight of stairs very slowly, but being in so much pain and having to walk hunched over made Harry pause to get energy before the second flight.

Draco scooped Harry up in his arms before he could fight him off, knowing that Harry was in more pain than he was letting on.

"Put me down!" Harry whined.

"No." Draco replied, while starting to climb the stairs. "You know, this isn't the first time I've carried you up a flight of stairs."

Harry's face scrunched up, trying to think of what Malfoy meant. Draco noticed the look, and laughed.

"You remember the Hufflepuff Party? How do you think you got to your bed? You came out of the bathroom drunk, and practically fell on me. Of course I was planning on helping you any way, _Jolt_."

Harry looked to be in deep thought, trying to remember that event.

Draco added, "After I tucked you in, you pulled me down on top of you and I almost gave in. Glad I didn't sleep there because I could just imagine how badly you would have hexed me the next morning."

Getting closer to the hospital wing, Draco considered walking slowly so this moment could last longer, but he knew Harry was in pain.

Draco pushed the swinging door open with his foot and walked towards the beds. He gently laid Harry down, who immediately curled sideways into a ball.

Madame Pomfrey came bustling out. "What happened?"

"He was hit by two bludgers during Flying Class. One here, and the second here." Draco said, pointing to the spots.

"Okay, let's have a look, Mister Potter." Pomfrey said as she started to lift up Harry's shirt. She was having a bit of difficulty taking it off due to the curled-up position Harry was laying in.

Draco leaned over and gently lifted Harry partially up and then helped Pomfrey remove the shirt from Harry's small frame.

"Oh my." Pomfrey said, noticing the bruising that was already starting on his arm, she rolled him gently onto his back to look at the large swelling and bruising starting on his stomach. She waved her wand and said, "Your arm is broken and there is some slight internal damage. Nothing I can't fix. Though I wish they would stop using lead for bludgers, and switch to something less damaging."

Pomfrey walked off to her storage cabinet to get the medicines she needed, leaving Harry and Draco alone.

Harry curled back onto his side. Draco wanted to touch Harry and comfort him, but in the end he just pulled the covers up from the bottom of the bed and placed them on top of Harry.

"Why are you being so nice to me?" Harry said quietly.

"Because I care." Draco answered.

"But why?"

"I have for years. I don't know… I guess one day, I just started to care about your feelings. Of course, I hid it and tried to do everything possible to make myself stop thinking about you in that way. Then one day it dawned on me - I truly care for you and knew it wouldn't ever go away. I've had time to come to terms with it."

Draco could hear Pomfrey start to come out of the storage room, with a couple of bottles of medicine. He quickly leaned over and pressed a kiss to Harry's temple, shocking the raven-haired boy, before walking through the doors, not looking back.

"Can you sit up, Harry? I need you to drink these." Harry wiggled and twisted, and eventually made it to a semi-sitting position and drank down the potions.

**-o-O-o-**

Draco made it back out to the Pitch just before practice was over. Ron flew straight to him.

"Hey, Malfoy." Ron started.

Rolling his eyes, Draco said, "The teacher wanted me to take him to the hospital wing. He's there now and should be fine." He walked off towards the showers, leaving Ron standing there.

After all of the classes were over for the day, Draco ran into Pansy and Hermione in the Dungeons.

"Is Harry okay?" Hermione asked. "Pomfrey wouldn't let anyone in to see him because he was sleeping."

"He should be fine, Pomfrey was just giving him medicine when I left. She seemed confident that she could heal him."

"I feel so bad! I was the one who talked him into going to classes today. I knew he was tired and hadn't been eating much, but I told him it would be good for him – to get his mind off... things."

"It's not your fault," Pansy said while rubbing Hermione's back, "you couldn't have known this would happen."

"Either of you care to go for a walk around the lake?" Draco asked.

Both girls nodded. They went up to their rooms to retrieve some winter jackets, scarves and gloves. Pansy let Hermione borrow some of her winter gear. When all were bundled up, they left the castle.

"So how are you doing, Draco?" Hermione asked him.

"How do you think I'm doing?" Draco said with a little more venom than he meant.

"Sorry. Did you get to talk to Harry when you were helping him to the hospital wing?" Hermione pressed on, hoping to not get snapped at again.

"A little bit, yeah. When he wasn't busy trying to run away after he realized it was me helping him."

"You have to understand, Harry has issues trusting people. Growing up in an environment like he did…" Hermione trailed off.

"What do you mean? I thought all those rumors were false." Draco asked.

"Well, he definitely wouldn't want me telling you this, but I think it will help you to understand him better. At his Aunt's house, he was treated like a house elf. He had to cook and clean for everyone, got called names, and was beat up by his cousin for years. Um, he never got to eat unless there were scraps of food left over, even though he cooked all the meals. And I heard his cousin is huge because he would purposefully eat as much as he could so that Harry wouldn't have much to eat. His cousin is like three times the size of Vincent Crabbe. That's why Harry's clothes never fit - he had to wear his cousin's hand-me-downs because they refused to waste their money on him. And for eleven years, he was locked inside a tiny broom closet under the stairs – that was his bedroom. I could go on, but I've definitely told you more than I should have. One thing for sure though – I am positive it was much worse than he let on."

Draco's jaw had dropped open and he was so angry, he was literally shaking with fury. Pansy looked shocked as well.

After a few minutes of silence, Draco cleared his throat and said, "I had no clue. I mean, I assumed he grew up being treated like a prince. I don't understand how he could live through all that and still be so nice to everyone."

"I guess he was so relieved to be able to move out of that house, that he kind of viewed the world in a different light. Of course, he dreads having to go back every summer."

"Not any more, he will never have to go back to that place again." Draco promised and then added, "By the way, I told Harry about me carrying him back to his room after the Hufflepuff party last month. You're probably going to have some explaining to do."

"Great." Hermione said.

**-o-O-o-**

Tuesday came and went. Harry was still having issues sleeping, but on Monday he told Pomfrey about his sleeping problem and the issue of nightmares during the few times he actually managed to fall asleep. She gave him a bottle of sleeping draught that should last him a couple of weeks. Last night he tried to fall asleep naturally, but after midnight when he still hadn't been able to, he took it and slept restful for a few hours before class.

During all the classes that Gryffindor shared with Slytherin and even during the meals at the Great Hall, Harry pretended that Draco didn't exist. He wasn't ready to deal with that issue yet. His heart was still aching.

The next few days had all the students and teachers excited because of the Gryffindor versus Slytherin match that was happening on Friday. The students were wearing ribbons and buttons to support their favorite team, and there was a lot of heckling in the hallways as well as bets being placed.

Friday morning, the atmosphere in the Great Hall was thick. After the last class of the day, which was at two o'clock, everyone was getting ready to go to the Pitch.

"Is your arm and stomach feeling better?" Hermione asked Harry.

"Yeah, I still have some bruising, but I'm feeling pretty good overall."

"Good. I'll see you later. Good luck!" Hermione offered as she hugged him just outside of the Gryffindor locker room and started heading towards the stands.

After Gryffindor's team pep talk, they took to the field feeling very confident.

Once in the air, Harry flew high above the action, trying to look around for the Golden Snitch. He wanted this game over as fast as possible. Draco kept trying to talk to him and it was breaking his concentration. Harry flew around the field and Draco was following his every move.

"Harry, will you listen to me? I don't even care about this stupid game! I just want to talk to you and you've been ignoring me since I took you to the hospital on Monday."

Harry looked over towards Draco for the first time, giving in. At this point, it had been over half an hour and Draco had not stopped trying to talk to him. The first thing Harry noticed when he turned around was the serious look on Malfoy's face. The second thing he noticed were his pink lips that were slightly open. Harry then forced himself to look away from Malfoy's face; because some part of him was beginning to want to believe in the things Malfoy was telling him.

Harry said, "Look, I really don't want to discuss this now-" but, suddenly he broke off and his eyes opened wide. He took off at a fast speed and swooped down with his arm held out in front of him. Harry then held his hand up in the air and the students cheered when they saw the Snitch.

"Looks like the first victory of the year for the Gryffindor team!" The announcer said.

Harry started to fly down to the ground to join his team in giving hugs, patting each other on the back, and congratulating each other.

Draco yelled, "Jolt, wait!"

Harry paused and turned around, Malfoy was right behind him holding his hand out. Without thinking, Harry reached out and took the envelope. Draco smiled and started flying in the opposite direction towards his teammates and then Harry continued flying down towards the ground.

Harry stuffed the envelope Malfoy gave him into his pocket before turning around to congratulate his team.

After taking a shower, Gryffindor team was heading back up to their Common Room for a celebration. By the time they got there, the party was already happening. All the students started cheering at the winning team as they walked through the portrait.

Harry ran up the stairs to drop off his Quidditch gear and hurried back down to the party.

Everyone was drinking, dancing, playing games, and having a good time. Colin Creevey was going around taking photographs of everything. By the time he talked the Quidditch team into standing together for a photo, his camera wouldn't work.

"What's the matter Colin? We're not that hideous!" The team laughed.

"Aw no. I'm out of film! This was my last roll too. I wish we could go to Hogsmeade every Saturday instead of just once a Season. At least you seventh years get to go once a month! Hey, would one of you mind buying me some rolls of film next weekend when you go?" Colin asked hopefully.

"Why don't we just go tomorrow?" Seamus asked.

"Because, we're not allowed." Hermione said from the couch.

"What, are they going to ground all of us seventh years? I somehow doubt that."

"Well they could if they wanted to, even give us all detention."

"I think it would be fun, to sneak out." Dean added.

A lot of the students were nodding their heads.

"So let's do it then!" Seamus said.

"You're only saying that because you're tipsy." Hermione commented.

"No, I'm serious. Us seventh years should go to Hogsmeade tomorrow!"

"Hey, what about us lower years?" Colin asked.

"No way. You better not rat on us either, if you know what's good for you." Ron said, giving them an intimidating look.

"Hey, let's invite the other Houses!" Seamus said.

"This is definitely not a good idea, you guys! What about us Prefects and Head boy and girl? We're supposed to put a stop to this!"

"Quit nagging us! Come on, let's go tell the others!" Seamus announced. Quite a few students stood up to go with him.

"I know how to get to Ravenclaw, because I've walked Luna to her Common Room a few times." Ron offered.

"Great, we'll go there first." Seamus replied.

Harry and Ron started walking with the group of students now leaving through the portrait. Hermione walked up to them and grabbed their arms.

"Ron! You're a prefect. You can't do this!"

"Well, technically, it's not too late to be out walking around yet. We still have a couple more hours before curfew."

"That's not what I meant and you know it. I'm talking about sneaking out to Hogsmeade tomorrow."

"I'm sure Pansy won't have an issue with it, and she's a Prefect too."

That made Hermione shut her mouth really fast. She followed the group out into the hall, muttering to herself.

"Ravenclaw first, where's it at Ron?" Seamus asked.

"Um, the tower on the other side of the castle. The Knight is their Common Room entrance, although I don't know the password."

As they made their way across the castle, they were trying to be quiet and sneaky but some of them had already had too much to drink. There was lots of giggling going on and everyone was talking.

"It's a good thing we're not out past curfew, otherwise we'd be caught for sure." Hermione stated outloud, though not many people heard her.

They finally made it to the Ravenclaw area.

"What do we do now?" Someone asked.

"Try knocking on the portrait." Someone else offered.

"I'll handle this." Seamus said while pushing through the crowd.

"I thought the Irish could handle their alcohol better?" Ron asked.

"He's not sluring his words or falling down," Dean said, "he just gets a little more bold when he's been drinking."

After Seamus knocked on the portrait, the Knight asked for the password.

"We don't know it. Can you tell Luna Lovegood that she has company?"

A minute later, Luna stepped through the portrait and most of the Gryffindors pushed their way into the Common Room.

"Hey, what's going on?" Mandy Brocklehurst asked.

"Man, this is a lot of blue!" Ron said to Luna while looking around the room.

"We came to talk to the seventh years." Seamus announced with a wicked smile.

"Sure. Let's go out into the hall." Terry Boot said.

They all went into the hall and the Gryffindors invited them to Hogsmeade the next morning.

When the Gryffindors said their goodbyes and started to head towards Hufflepuff territory, some of the seventh year Ravenclaws followed – making the crowd much larger.

They headed down the stairs.

"Does anyone know how to get to the Hufflepuff Common Room?"

"Isn't that where they hold their parties?"

"No, that's just an unused staff room near them. But, we'll head in that direction anyway."

When they made it down all the staircases, and were standing near the abandoned staff room, they split up and started knocking on the different portraits and parts of the wall.

Eventually Lavender Brown yelled out, "Over here! It's this way!"

By the time the rest of the students made it over to Lavender, the seventh year Hufflepuffs were already standing in the hallway. Some of the Gryffindors were explaining the plan for tomorrow.

About ten minutes later, the Gryffindors, Ravenclaws, and now some Hufflepuffs started walking towards the other side of the castle towards the Dungeons.

"Why are we inviting them again?" Ron asked as they got closer to Slytherin territory.

"Because it wouldn't be fair not to." Hermione said.

"Does anyone know how to get to their Common Room?"

"Um, I do." Hermione said, and her classmates started giggling. "Well, I have been seeing Pansy for a couple of weeks now!"

They made it to the Dungeons and had to walk through a labyrinth of passages just to get close to the Slytherin Common Room.

"It did take me a few times coming here to remember the way." Hermione offered, now leading the group. "All of you, keep up and be quiet! I think Professor Snape's chamber is down here."

Instant silence.

Hermione took something out of her pocket and played with it.

"What's that?" Harry asked her.

"Oh, something similar to the D.A. coins I made. This way Pansy and I can meet up without having to plan in advance." She said with a huge grin.

A few minutes later, Pansy came strolling out of a stone passageway.

"Hi." Pansy said, looking unapprovingly at all the other students. "What's this?"

"We wanted to invite the seventh years out to Hogsmeade tomorrow. We're sneaking out." Seamus said.

"I've already tried to talk them out of it." Hermione told Pansy. "I may as well go along with them and have fun, because I'll be getting the same punishment regardless."

Pansy smiled, "All right. I'll tell my classmates about it."

A lot of the students looked weary standing there in the Dungeons right near the Slytherin Common Room. It didn't help when Draco stepped out and gave an evil look to the huge group standing in front of him. A horde of Slytherins were standing behind him with the same intimidating look.

"Time to go!" Someone announced as the crowd eagerly turned around and started walking away.

"Hold up, I'll guide you." Hermione offered. "Trust me you do not want to get lost in these passages."

She gave a quick kiss to Pansy before she pushed her way through the crowd to take the lead.

Draco spotted Harry in the back of the crowd and yelled his name. Harry turned around. Draco blew a kiss to him and Harry gave a slight smile before Ron grabbed his arm and dragged him off with the rest of the crowd.

"What was all of that?" Draco asked Pansy with a huge wave of his hands to imitate the size of the crowd that had just left.

"Let's gather up all the seventh years. We have something to discuss." She answered as she walked back into the Common Room.

**-o-O-o-**

When Harry made it back to his room some time later, he walked over to his wardrobe and pulled out his pajamas. As he was taking off his clothes, he felt something in his pocket. He reached in and pulled out an envelope. _'I forgot about this.'_ He thought, tossing it onto his bed so he could finish changing.

A few minutes later he sat down on his bed and picked up the envelope. He ran his fingers over the black parchment paper gingerly. He flipped it over and saw that it had _Jolt_, written on it in gray. He paused to consider his options. Part of him wanted to throw it away without reading it, because he was still hurt. But part of him was curious and desperately missed communicating with Mischief… er, Malfoy.

Harry did a couple of wandless spells and was happy to see that there were no curses or a portkey inside.

Opening it, he found a letter and the necklace that Mischief gave him. He briefly considered throwing the necklace out of the window, but ended up deciding to keep it to remember Mischief by. He set the necklace on his nightstand and pulled out the letter.

Dear Harry,

I'm not sure what to say that will make you believe my intentions. I truly do care about you, more than anything else. However, I can see you are having a hard time believing me. I do realize this is my fault for harassing you for all those years and I can see how it would be hard for you to trust me. I wish I could take back all the times I was an arse to you.

I am going to stop chasing you around and trying to talk to you. I know that you need time to think about things. I hope in the end, you will realize how perfect we are for each other – but if you don't, I promise to stop trying to force you to see it.

My understanding from Hermione is that you still think I am playing a joke on you. If you want the letters destroyed, just give Hermione the word. I really want to keep them, but I also want to prove to you that I won't be running around showing them off or sending them to the Daily Prophet.

In the end, it's your decision. I already know what I want.

Much love,

Draco

**-o-O-o-**

_Love_? Harry wasn't sure what to think anymore. Malfoy sure seemed sincere and Harry was starting to doubt that this was all a hoax. Plus, didn't he tell Ron to give Luna a chance just a few weeks ago? And look at them now… a couple. Harry pulled out his sleeping draught and took a swig. He wanted to fall asleep without dwelling on this situation any longer. He could always think about it tomorrow during the thirty minute walk to Hogsmeade.

_-end of chapter-_

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Note One: If you are curious about the reason behind most of my dedications - Sometimes people leave good ideas in their reviews (that I may or may not use). Occasionally they leave an idea that I already had planned out, but sometimes it's cute stuff that I think will be good to use. If I do use an idea from someone, I will dedicate that chapter to them.

**PS – **_**Please read**_ In response to someone's question about whether or not I came up with the idea of this story on my own, or used someone else's idea. **Let me clear this up!**

I do not steal from people and then claim it to be my own. I came up with this story by myself and when I did - I had never read or even heard of a story line with penpals in fanfiction.

Actually, before I sat down and wrote Chapter One - I did a brief search on this site for penpals and quillpals and didn't find ANYTHING. Then in one of my reviews after I posted my first few chapters, someone mentioned that they had read a story in the past that had a similar story line. So I did another search, and found the other Quill Pal story on this site (not sure how I missed it during the first search, but I _**promise**_ it didn't come up for me the first time I looked).

So anyway, after I found that story, I refused to read it because I didn't want any part of their story to influence mine!! So I hope there aren't a bunch of similarities, because if there are – it is purely coincidental!!!

Lastly, any ideas I use that I didn't come up with on my own, I _**always**_ credit to the person who put them in my head. So to answer your question, no, I didn't take the story line _or_ title from someone else's story. This was something that had been floating around in my head many months before I started to write it. But, _Flower_, thank you for the question because it gives me a chance to clear this up! I'm not upset – just glad to be able to clear the air.


	15. Clandestine

Ahem: So yeah. I think that _moonshine and mustard seed_ has either been sneaking peaks at my notes for all the chapters or we are really in tune when it comes to writing.

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**:Chapter Fifteen: **_**Clandestine**_

"You're not still serious, are you?" Hermione asked Seamus as she sat down in front of him in the Great Hall.

"What, you thought after I _'slept on it,'_ I would come to my senses?" Seamus answered with a huge grin.

"That's what I was hoping!"

"Look around Hermione. All the seventh years obviously think it's a great idea."

And indeed she did look around. He was right of course, the seventh years were smirking, had wicked grins on their faces, and looked excited for their little covert operation. Had any teacher actually been paying attention that morning, they would have realized that something was up for sure.

"Alright, I'm in." Hermione said, resignedly.

"Someone needs to keep an eye on Harry and you know everyone else is going to be running off, getting into trouble."

"Just don't tell him that's what I'm doing. He's trying to forget the death threat ever happened."

"Shh, here he comes now."

Harry had just walked in through the huge doors and was walking over to the Gryffindor table.

"How are you doing?" Hermione asked him.

"Thanks to the draught, I actually got good sleep last night."

"Yeah, we tried to wake you up to shower with us, but you looked so peaceful for once that we decided to let you sleep in." Ron told him.

"Thanks guys." Harry said as he loaded his plate with crepes. "So are we still going to Hogsmeade today?"

"You bet your sweet arse we are!" Said Seamus.

"I'm shocked the teachers don't realize something is up, with how crazy and excited all the seventh years are acting." Harry stated.

"I don't see why we don't just wait until next weekend, when it's our actual Hogsmeade Saturday." Hermione pressed.

"You're taking all the fun out of it. Besides, Colin needs new film soon." Seamus told her.

"He can mail order it." Hermione pointed out.

"Yeah, and it get here four days from now. What's the point? Quit ruining my fun."

"It's just, I know we're going to get in so much trouble."

"Well then, let's make this trip worth it!"

Hermione and Seamus argued back and forth for the remainder of breakfast.

**-o-O-o-**

All the seventh years were wearing their winter clothing. It looked as if they were going outside to maybe play a scrimmage Quidditch game, so the teachers didn't bother paying too much attention.

As the remainder of the Gryffindor were heading outside of the castle, Colin handed Harry an empty film container.

"I need at least ten of this kind." Colin told him.

"Harry won't be needing that because he's not getting your film." Seamus interrupted.

Colin looked confused. "But I thought this was the main reason for you guys going."

Seamus picked up Colin and threw him over his shoulder adding, "You're coming with. You have to take pictures of us on our little escapade."

"Put me down!"

No response.

"Last night you said I couldn't go." Colin said while trying to squirm his way off Seamus' shoulder.

"Well, I said that because I didn't want a horde of little kids coming with. But one little monster won't be too hard to watch out for."

After they had gathered in a huge group a bit away from the castle, Seamus put Colin down.

"Alright, you know the plan." Seamus said loud enough for everyone to hear.

All the students cast a Concealment Charm, which covered all around them. It didn't make them quite invisible, but unless someone was specifically looking for them, their eyes would glide right over the group.

Once they had made it a ways down the path and were hidden by trees, they removed the charm and continued walking toward Hogsmeade.

Even though it was cold out – they were all acting more hyper than usual and actually walking as one giant group instead of the little broken off pairs that they usually walked in.

In fact, a lot of the students weren't even with their Housemates. This was because of two things. The Quill-Pal program had made it easier to befriend new people; and second, doing anything sneaky always makes you feel bonded with those joining in.

Ron was walking with Luna near the front. Hermione was somewhere in the middle walking with Pansy. Harry was near the back of the crowd by himself until Graham dropped back to walk with him.

"So you don't actually remember us kissing at the party last month?" Graham asked him.

"I remember dancing, and I vaguely remember kissing you, but it's not very clear."

"Well we can change that." Graham said with a wink.

"That's alright, I'd rather just talk." Harry said with a smile.

They continued talking until they made it to Hogsmeade. Hermione spoke up.

"Wait! Before you all split off, let's agree to meet up at The Three Broomsticks in a couple of hours. Since we're all going to get into trouble over this, might as well do it as a group. And we'll be walking back together too."

Everyone nodded their heads and split up.

**-o-O-o-**

As the huge group split off, Pansy gave Hermione a kiss on the cheek.

"What was that for?" Hermione asked.

"I have to go get something, but I'll catch up with you in about fifteen minutes. Where are you going first?"

"I'll be at **Scrivenshaft's buying some new ink for my quill."**

**"Only ****_you_**** could sneak out of school knowing you're going to get into trouble, and yet still make the time to buy class supplies!"**

Pansy waved to her and started walking in the opposite direction. She headed towards the Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes store. After leaving, she headed towards Zonko's Joke Shop. Once inside, she found the person she was looking for.

"There you are. I've been looking for you!" Pansy said to Draco.

"What for?"

"Here." She said as she shoved something into his hand.

He opened his palm and looked inside.

"Is this what I think it is?"

"Yes, it's Dandy Candy. We didn't get a chance to buy any last time because of your little incident. Now go make it and give it to him already."

"But I don't know the directions."

"It's on the wrapper. Go!" She said as she pushed him out of the shop.

Draco walked around to the side of the store and sat down on a small bench. He read the wrapper and tried to decide how best to use his thirty seconds. After taking his time to think about it, he tapped the candy with his wand and said '_Excipio,' _then he held onto the candy and started thinking of how happy Harry made him feel and how badly he wanted the other boy to believe him – and how afraid he was at the thought of never getting the chance. After half a minute was up, he continued holding the candy. He wasn't sure if what he did was good enough, but there was no way he was going to the twins' shop to buy more.

Draco sat on that bench with conflicting feelings. One side was trying to convince himself to give the candy to Harry; another side was trying to talk himself out of it. The latter part won – with a great argument. After all, he _had_ promised Harry that he wouldn't be bothering him anymore… plus, he saw the smiles that Harry and Graham were exchanging on the way to Hogsmeade today. What if they were now an item? It's not like he could ask Harry, so he would have to wait and see if any gossip started. But, in the end Draco decided that he wanted Harry to come to him, because he had already done enough chasing.

He stood up and tossed the candy into a near by garbage bin and walked back into Zonko's.

**-o-O-o-**

Harry was walking to Zonko's shop with Graham. Actually, he was mostly walking by himself, Graham had just taken it upon himself to follow him that day and Harry didn't have the heart to tell him to go away.

Harry almost didn't spot Draco sitting on a bench between two stores. He was curious as to what Draco was doing there with his wand out, pointing at his own hand. Harry glanced up at Graham to see if he had also had spotted Draco sitting there, but luckily Graham was too busy talking and hadn't. So Harry told him that he would meet him inside Zonko's in a few minutes. Graham walked off with a spring in his step.

Harry walked back across the path and made sure he was out of view of Draco. He was curious what was happening. The blond boy had already dropped his wand, but his eyes were shut and he had an intense look on his face, like he was really concentrating. His hand was balled into a tight fist. About half a minute later, he opened his eyes and Harry could swear his eyes were shining. Draco then placed his chin into both hands and leaned onto his knees. He was staring at the ground. A couple of minutes later, he stood up with a look of defeat on his face and tossed something into the garbage bin and walked off.

Harry saw that the small item Draco had tossed into the garbage had actually bounced off the lid and fell into a window box full of flowers. Making sure that Draco entered the store, Harry crossed the road and walked over to the window box. He pulled out the small item and recognized the wrapper immediately. Dandy Candy.

He was holding it in his hand when Graham appeared behind him and called his name. Pocketing the candy, Harry followed Graham into Zonko's shop.

Once he entered the shop with Graham, he immediately spotted Draco, who was giving him a curious look with a pinch of jealousy.

Harry made sure to not stand too close to Graham, not wanting to make the situation worse.

"Harry, I'm so glad to see you!" A voice from behind him said.

He turned around to find a funny-acting Ron, who was kind of bouncing in place.

"Are you drunk?" He asked Ron.

Ron hiccupped and shook his head no and a grin stretched across his entire face.

"My brothers invented a new candy. It's called Volcanic Ash. It makes you hyper like a five year old with a candy addiction. Here, have one."

"No thanks!" Harry said, holding his hands up so Ron couldn't place the candy in it.

Ron just shoved it into his pocket and said, "I'm giving them to everyone! They wear off in an hour!" And he started to hand them out.

Even after seeing how bouncy and giddy Ron was, shockingly a lot of the students actually tried a piece and within ten seconds half the store was even more loud and obnoxious than before. But they were all laughing and having a good time, too.

"What the hell." Harry said with a shrug. He pulled out the candy and popped it into his mouth.

Immediately, Harry felt a flush of warmth hit his face and wrap around his body like a giant hug. He felt weightless and comforted. Then he started to hear a gentle wind explaining how much he was cared for. He could actually feel the whisperings from Draco's soothing voice: _I feel so empty at the though of you not joining me in life. If I have to go on without you – I know I will pine every day for you - just as I have for the past few years. My mind wants you and my body longs for you. My lips crave you. I remember the kiss we shared at the Ball. It was like we transformed into one person. I am too scared to think of not having that again_…. And the whispers continued and so did the comforting feeling. It was like someone had filled every particle of Harry's being with soft caresses and comforting love. By the time the candy stopped working, he knew that was only the beginning and that Draco could have filled up a thousand candies and still not have been done expressing himself.

As soon as it was over and Harry's eyes focused - he realized that he was on the ground, kneeling and hugging himself. He knew he must have had a goofy happy look on his face. He wondered - how could he have ever doubted Draco? Now he knew those emotions were real because he could _feel_ it, they couldn't have been faked. He was so over-shocked with the flood of emotions that he felt like he couldn't move.

No one had really noticed that Harry had fallen to the ground. Everyone was too hyper and involved in whatever they were doing.

Seeing that no one was going to help Harry, Draco rushed over. _'Forget stupid promises,'_ he thought.

He was on his knees in front of Harry within a matter of seconds. Harry had a glossy look on his face and his eyes were squeezed shut. Then he opened them and was staring into space.

"Harry? Are you okay?" Draco asked him, shocked that no one had noticed what was going on yet.

"Harry? Answer me." Draco pleaded.

Harry's eyes finally came into focus and he opened his mouth. "You! You!" Is all he could get out, his mind was still swimming with feelings and he hadn't quite come down off the high yet.

"Me what?" Draco asked.

Suddenly, Harry leaned forward and planted a soft kiss on his lips. Draco was shocked for a moment, then he opened his mouth slightly and gave Harry a very wet kiss. Harry melted into him, returning the wet kisses.

"Oh, no you don't!" Shouted Graham.

"What did you do to him, Malfoy?" Accused Ron, when he finally realized what was happening.

Graham picked Harry up by the waist and pulled him out through the door.

"Noooo!" Shouted Harry, still feeling the effects of the candy.

"You're not yourself right now. You need to calm down." Graham told him.

Graham and Ron sat Harry down on the bench outside of Zonko's. Harry was still too weak to do anything but sit there.

"What's wrong Harry?" Ron asked him with a concerned look on his face.

"Dandy Candy." Harry answered.

"Oh no. I've given a few of those out and it usually takes about fifeen minutes to an hour to calm down from the effects."

"Go get Draco." Harry pleaded.

"Draco? You mean Malfoy? No way!" Ron said.

"Um, I don't think it's such a good idea either." Graham said, suddenly curious what was going on. He placed his arm around Harry's shoulders.

**-o-O-o-**

Draco stood up, and touched his wet lips. He definitely wasn't dreaming and all the buzzing in his ears turned out to be the ridiculously hyper students hopping around, screeching, and squealing – still having no clue as to what just happened.

He dashed out through the door and heard Graham and Ron talking on the side of the store. He jogged over and saw Harry sitting between them, with Graham's arm slug possessively around him.

"Harry?" Draco asked.

Harry whimpered at the sight of him.

"Look, I don't know what stunt you're trying to pull, but leave Harry alone!" Graham said.

"Yeah, what did you do to him, Malfoy?" Ron asked.

"Nothing, I didn't do anything." Draco answered, shocked that he was getting blamed, when all he did was try to help.

"Just leave." Ron yelled.

Draco looked once more at Harry, who was leaning up against Graham. Realizing that he wasn't wanted there, he turned around and stalked off.

'_Thinks he can just play with my feelings like that!'_ Draco thought. _'How dare he!'_

**-o-O-o-**

About fifteen minutes later, Harry was able to stand up and walk. He was still dizzy, but didn't care. He had to find Draco.

All the students had started to walk to The Three Broomsticks to meet up like planned.

Harry spotted a blond head and rushed over to him. He grabbed his hand and pulled him to the side of the building, out of the way of prying eyes.

"I'm sorry about what happened-" Harry started until he was cut off.

"Harry, stop. I don't want to play games. I have feelings, you know!" Draco turned around to leave but Harry grabbed his arm.

"Wait! I believe you! I know you care about me, I only just found out. Don't go!"

"Look. As much as I'm still floating from the kiss you gave me, I am still able to think clearly. Apparently you need to go think about some things too. I've noticed you and Graham all over each other today."

"That's not what it was. He's been following me around, and earlier… well, I saw you throw something away and it bounced off the lid and fell into a flower box. I picked it up because I was curious." At this announcement, Draco's eyes grew wide, Harry continued, "I accidentally ate it in Zonko's, that's why I was acting so weird. Remember when I gave you that piece of Dandy Candy and you wrote to me saying that the emotions hit you so hard that you were practically paralyzed for a while? Well, that's what happened to me. Graham put his arm around me and I was so drained, I could barely sit up, that's why I was leaning on him!"

"You ate my candy?"

"Yes. And I believe you now." Harry said, while slowly pushing Draco against the side of the closest building.

"Harry?"

"Yes, Draco?"

Draco smiled. He loved the sound of his name coming out of Harry's lips.

Harry smiled back and put both hands on Draco's slim hips to hold him against the building, incase he decided to try and leave again.

Harry stared into those beautiful gray eyes for a long moment and then tilted his head to the side before leaning forward, capturing Draco's lips. They kissed very passionately and let all the pent up stress from the past horrible week out.

Minutes later, when both boys paused to catch their breath, Draco pushed Harry off of him and held him at arms length.

"Wait. I'm only saying this because I really care about you and I know you are still feeling the effects of the candy. I need to know that you _truly_ want me, so I think you should take some time to think about it, all right? I want more than leftover emotions from a piece of candy – I want you to be my boyfriend. Committed in every sense and without any doubts." Draco said.

Harry couldn't speak so he just nodded his head. Then he entwined his fingers with the arm that was pushing him away. He lifted their laced fingers above Draco's head and leaned in for one more painfully slow kiss before letting go and walking back to the front of The Three Broomsticks, leaving Draco there panting against the side of the building.

**-o-O-o-**

Harry sat down in the first empty chair he came to, not wanting to take the chance that Graham was saving him a seat. Harry looked side to side and realized that he was sitting next to Ernie MacMillan of Hufflepuff and Millicent Bulstrode of Slytherin. Looking around, he noticed that all the tables had students of different Houses sitting at them. He passed over Graham's face quickly – not wanting to catch his eye and continued looking at the group of students. He really had to hand it to Hermione, because this was all her doing.

Colin Creevey was running around taking photo after photo of all the students. Many of them were still talking loud and being obnoxious. A bit was due to the sneaking out and some of the more extreme cases were probably due to the new Volcano Ash candy.

Draco walked in and Harry's eyes followed him to the seat next to Graham. Harry chuckled because apparently, he was right – Graham had been saving him a seat. When Harry looked at Graham, he looked very displeased at the turn of events. Draco sat down with a smug look on his face.

Harry ordered his butterbeer and motioned for the waitress to lean closer.

"Ma'am, I want to pay for the tab of the blond guy over there. But don't tell him who it's from." Harry said and slightly nodded in the direction of Draco.

Her face lit up and she said, "Of course!"

Harry wanted to give some kind of thanks to Draco, for the amazing journey he had sent him on.

Harry's table ordered some finger foods and a bunch of different drinks to try. When his third butterbeer came out, Harry looked over and noticed that a seat next to Hermione was now empty. He stood up and walked over carrying his full tankard.

"So it looks like you're having a good time for someone who was so against coming here in the first place!" Harry told her.

"Yeah, I admit that I am. But I'm starting to get nervous… we've been gone for a couple of hours now."

"Yeah, we'll head back soon. Where did Pansy go?"

"She went to talk to Draco. She says he looks different and wanted to know what's going on."

Harry started blushing.

"Harry, do you know why Draco's acting funny?"

"Yeah, I do." And he proceeded to tell her what happened earlier. When he finished with the story, she was covering her grin with her hands.

"That's great, Harry! I'm glad you finally realized how much you mean to him."

"Yeah, but now that I know, he wants me to take some time to think about it. Make sure I am serious first."

"I can understand that. He already knows he wants to spend the rest of his life with you – so I guess he wants you to be sure before you give him a commitment."

Sometime later, Hermione stood up and said, "Let's pay and get out of here. The sooner we get back, the less damage will be done."

"You hope!" Seamus added.

"Yeah, I _do_ hope." Hermione muttered.

**-o-O-o-**

As the students were walking back in one giant group, there was a discussion whether or not they should put up the concealment charm before they made it to the castle. Some students thought they should do it as a precaution, other students thought it would be a waste of time and energy, because the teachers surely had realized by now that all of the seventh-years were missing.

In the end they did the concealment charm to appease the Slytherins – _'Why get yourself into trouble if no one has caught you in the first place?'_

As they got closer to the front doors, they realized that it was all in vain.

"Get in now! The lot of you!" Professor McGonagall exclaimed. "You should be ashamed of yourselves! All of you head to the Great Hall this instant."

"Here it comes." Pansy whispered into Hermione's ear while squeezing her hand a little tighter.

They entered the Great Hall and sat down, but not in their usual House seats. It was so quiet that you could hear a house elf appear.

They waited in silence for about ten minutes before the doors slammed open and Professor Snape marched in with a severely grumpy look in his face; he was followed by all the Head of House teachers and Professor Dumbledore was last to enter the room.

"I am so disappointed, I don't know where to begin!" Professor McGonagall started. "You're supposed to be the roll models for the younger students! How dare you go off the castle grounds without permission! I want all the Prefects and the Head Boy and Girl up here immediately!

She continued, "Miss Granger, I am let down by you the most! You're Head Girl. You should have come to me and told me before the students had a chance to sneak off. I would think you'd put more value into Mister Potter's life – because you know that Bellatrix Lestrange has been threatening him!"

"I'm sorry ma'am. We did think about Harry though! We thought Harry would be safe because if Bellatrix Lestrange _was_ waiting for him at Hogsmeade, it would be on a Saturday that she knew we were going into town! We doubted she would be waiting on just any random Saturday."

Ron spoke up, "Besides, she's no match for Harry!" Making Harry want to hide under the table.

"Who started this little adventure?" Professor Snape asked.

Everyone looked around to see who would take the blame. Finally Harry stood up.

"I did, sir."

A crooked smile appeared on the teacher's face. "Very well then, Potter. I have a special punishment picked out just for you."

"No, it was me!" Seamus said, standing up.

"No, I planned it." Said Justin Finch-Fletchley, standing up as well.

Suddenly, all of the Gryffindors, Hufflepuffs, and Ravenclaws stood up, shouting that it was them who started it.

Professor Snape looked excited that he could punish all the Houses, minus his.

Then Draco Malfoy stood up and everyone was shocked, even the teachers. The Slytherins followed suit and stood up with him. Every single student was now on their feet.

"Enough!" McGonagall yelled. "Fifty points from all four Houses! What do you think Professors? Detention, or should we cancel all future trips to Hogsmeade for the rest of the year for these students?"

While the Heads of Houses were discussing it, Dumbledore spoke up. "Next Saturday, instead of going to Hogsmeade with the rest of the school, the seventh years will attend classes all day. I must say that I am pleased to see that the Houses are no longer divided, however, it was a foolish thing to run off the castle grounds without letting anyone know. How are we to protect you if we don't know where you are?"

Snape turned to Dumbledore and said, "How is it that some irresponsible students can get away with sneaking off and the _teachers_ are the ones that get punished?" Then Snape turned to look at all of the students an announce with venom, "Trust me when I say, I will make those of you in my Potions class pay for ruining my Saturday!"

"But Headmaster, that's all the punishment they get?" McGonagall said incredulously.

"All students will report for detention tomorrow at eight a.m. Consider your Sunday booked." Dumbledore said. "Now you may leave. Except for Mister Potter, Harry, please come here."

As all the students were standing up to leave, Harry walked over to Dumbledore.

"Yes, sir?"

"Harry, I want you to go to my office and wait for me. The password is _licorice wands_. I'll be a few minutes."

Wondering what Dumbledore could possibly want, Harry turned around and started heading out of the Great Hall. Hermione saw him and gave him a concerned look, but Harry just shrugged and headed towards the office.

Harry gave the password and went up the stairs. He walked into the office and sat down in the chair in front of the desk. While waiting for Dumbledore, he noticed the small bowl of candy on the desk and thinks back to the candy he ate earlier.

Suddenly, he remembered the Sorting Hat and stands up to look for it. He spots it on a chair, beside the door.

He picked up the hat and placed it on his head.

"Ah, Harry Potter. Come to visit me again?"

"Yes, I have a question about the match you gave me."

"Draco Malfoy, I presume."

"Yes, him. If you can, please tell me why you matched me up with him. He was my highest match, at a 98 percent."

"Yes, I remember. You two were the easiest couple to place together. I realize there have always been issues between you two, but don't you feel it? You two are perfect for each other."

"Perfect? Then why did you only give us a 98 percent then?"

"Well that's easy. I took off one point from you for your failure to realize this and a point off him for his failure to act on it."

Harry heard someone opening the door, so he thanked the Hat for its answer and hurried to sit down in a chair. Looking up, he saw Dumbledore walking in.

"I'm sorry, sir, I know sneaking off was a stupid thing to do."

"Don't worry Harry, I already knew where you were. Madame Rosmerta contacted me when she saw all you students at Hogsmeade today. She knows that you weren't supposed to show up until next weekend and didn't want me to be concerned. She kept an eye on you. I didn't tell the other teachers, because well, I wanted their reactions to be dramatic and scare some sense into the lot of you."

Harry was shocked. "Okay sir, then why did you want to see me?"

"I noticed this past week you have been looking very down and I am concerned about you. Care to tell me what's been going on that has you looking so depressed?"

"Well, I was upset about my match."

"Your Quill-Pal match?"

"Yes… you see, the Sorting Hat matched me up with-"

"Draco Malfoy, correct?"

"Yes, how did you know?"

"Ah, I always though you two would be great together once you learned to overcome your childhood rivalry. So, I take it that once you met - things didn't go too well?"

"No, sir. I kind of blew up at him and didn't believe him."

"I'm not surprised. But, I hope you give it some serious thought before you dismiss him completely."

"I will, sir."

"Good. Are you getting better sleep? Madame Pomfrey told me she had to give you some sleeping draught."

"I'm feeling a bit better, and haven't had any nightmares for a couple of days."

"Good, good. Well come to me if you need anything."

"Thank you." Harry said, standing up.

Harry headed off to Gryffindor tower. He knew he had a lot to think about.

**-o-O-o-**

When Harry walked through the portrait, Seamus rushed over to him.

"You didn't get in trouble did you?"

"No, it's alright." Harry answered.

"Good, here." Seamus said as he shoved a paper into his hand.

Harry looked down and saw it was a party invitation for next Sunday. The Hufflepuff students were throwing their second party of the year.

"It should be a good party." Seamus said.

"Yeah, I'm sure we'll be needing one - considering that all of us will be severely punished the day before!"

"I'm dreading Potions and Transfigurations."

"I think all of us are. Anyway, I'm off to bed. Goodnight everyone." Harry said as he headed up the stairs.

After he changed and got ready for bed, he was starting to crawl into his bed when he suddenly decided to pull out a piece of parchment and his quill.

When he finished writing his letter, he put it in his mailbox.

**-o-O-o-**

Draco had been lying in bed, wondering why Harry was called to Dumbledore's office when he saw something across the room start to glow. He looked in the direction of the light and his heart skipped a beat. _'No, it can't be my mailbox.'_ He thought. But he decided to get up and check anyway.

He couldn't suppress his smile when he realized that in fact it _was_ his mailbox that was glowing. The room's lights were turned off but the boys always kept a few candles burning at night, so when Draco took the parchment from his mailbox, he didn't have to use _Lumos_ to read it.

Draco carried the parchment over to his bed.

Dear Mischief,

I've missed communicating with you. I hope you don't mind this letter, after everything that happened today. I feel bad that everyone got in trouble because of us Gryffindors, but I still had a great time.

Tomorrow's detention and next Saturday's classes don't sound very fun, but I think it will be worth it. I hope you agree, because I might never have realized that you were serious about caring for me. I'm sorry that I have a hard time trusting people, but I really want to learn to trust you.

That candy was amazing. I have only tried Dandy Candy once… Ron gave it to me and I don't know what I was thinking by accepting it. I'll just say that he was doing something in the bathroom with it and after I ate it, I felt disgusted for about an hour! So, the experience today was obviously far better.

Goodnight,

Jolt

**-o-O-o-**

Harry was lying in bed, hoping to get a response, but trying not to get his hopes up too high. Suddenly, his mailbox was glowing and he hopped out of bed to get the letter.

Dear Jolt,

I have also missed getting letters from you.

I am glad you found the candy that I tried to throw away. I wanted to give it to you, but I talked myself out of it at the last moment.

Thank you for picking up my tab at the Three Broomsticks. It was very unexpected and made Graham very jealous. I think you'll have some explaining to do at some point. He's been pouting all night.

Go get some sleep. I'm sure we'll need it for detention tomorrow.

Sweet dreams,

Mischief

_-end of chapter-_

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Note: I wasn't sure whether to include the Sunday detention or not. I opted for not (meaning I don't plan on covering it in the next chapter), but if you really want me to include it, I can always edit this chapter. Let me know!

Also: This chapter had a mind of it's own – but I hope you still enjoyed it.


	16. blank chapter, oops

Sorry about this chapter. Please continue onto the real chapter 16 --------------------


	17. Birds ch16

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**:Chapter Sixteen: **_**Birds**_

Monday:

Flying Class was going much better than last week's class, in Harry's opinion. Even with the daylong detention yesterday, Harry was much more rested and in better spirits.

Dodging a bludger with ease and batting it far away, Harry then took the time to look around. Today's class was just a recap of the last one: Doing specific tuck and roll maneuvers before batting the bludger away. Harry knew he must have been out of sorts last week to have been hit bad enough to have to go see Madame Pomfrey. Hopefully that event wouldn't be happening ever again.

Last week was a very long week for Harry. His spirits had dropped to a new low that he didn't know was possible. Thankfully on Saturday, he finally realized that Malfoy's… er, Draco's feelings for him were real. Of course, they weren't quite together yet. Draco wanted him to be sure about things before they jumped into a relationship. Apparently Draco already knew that he wanted more than just a casual relationship between them – he wanted something more solid. Harry had a lot to think over.

They had been exchanging letters again, starting Saturday night. Harry was thrilled every time he saw his mailbox glowing. Yesterday the seventh years did detention from 8am until 5pm, so Harry didn't see Draco until suppertime in the Great Hall. By then, Harry had seen too much of that room for his tastes. He was one of the lucky students to be on his hands and knees scrubbing the Great Hall floor that day and afterwards he had to scrub every table and bench too – and that was just the beginning. Professor Snape had come up with some very physical and degrading punishments and Professor McGonagall had still been so upset about them sneaking out that she backed up Snape with every punishment he rattled off.

Hearing a low humming sound brought Harry back to the present. He quickly tucked and rolled before hitting the bludger off.

"Oi, Potter! Let's not have a recap of last week. You'd better be paying attention!" Someone said.

Harry turned around and saw Draco tossing his bat into the air before catching it again and again.

"Why? You don't want to be tortured by having to carry me up some more stairs?" Harry replied back.

Draco smiled and nodded his head before taking off to whack another bludger.

After class, Harry was in the locker room grabbing his change of clothes before heading into the shower area. He was moving intentionally slow because he had seen Draco walking towards the showers just a few minutes earlier. Of course, Harry knew he had to hurry up because his next class was Potions. He didn't even want to think of how bad it would be if he showed up late to that class.

Thinking of that, a bit of bravery surfaced and he grabbed his cleaning supplies and walked into the showers. He hung his towel on a peg and walked over towards his usual shower spot, making sure that his back was to Draco.

"You'd better hurry up." Ron said to him. "Snape was in an awful mood yesterday, I know he's going to give us hell all week to pay for this coming Saturday."

"Don't remind me. I'm dreading it for sure." Harry replied.

After he had washed his body and rinsed, he turned his back to the water and started wetting and soaping up his hair. He immediately caught eyes with Draco across the room - who was also in the process of shampooing his hair. Blushing, Harry closed his eyes and leaned his head back to rinse off the suds.

When Harry opened his eyes again, Draco had already finished rinsing his hair and now had his back turned towards Harry. Even through the foggy steam, Harry could gladly take in the sight of a perfectly shaped bum. Draco's skin looked so soft, Harry wanted to lick every drop of water off of it to find out if he was correct. Scanning the boy's body and watching his hands, Harry realized that Draco was wearing the bracelet he made for him. Harry guessed it was the first time Draco had worn it into the shower, not that he had made it a point to look at Draco's arm before then. Harry couldn't believe how happy it made him feel, seeing the bracelet on the other boy's arm.

Draco then turned the water off and spun back around before Harry realized what was happening. Draco caught his eye and smirked, he then winked and started walking towards his towel.

Harry immediately turned around and buried his face in the running water to hide his grin.

A couple minutes later, Harry turned off the water and headed towards his towel.

After getting dressed and ready for class, him and Ron set off at a fast pace to make it to class on time.

Thankfully they weren't late, but less than a minute after they sat down, Snape slammed the door and stalked to the front of the class.

"Well, it seems you students are determined to make my life… difficult. Let's see if I can do the same. Take out your quills and parchment and get ready for the first pop quiz of the week."

They spent the rest of the lesson cutting ingredients for a potion they were going to make in a few days. Harry was picked on and cut down every chance that Snape was near him. In the end, he lost a total of sixty points for Gryffindor. As they were getting ready to leave, Professor Snape turned to the class and said, "I expect a three foot-long essay about today's lesson. Due next class."

The students made sure they were in the hallway before moaning about the long essay they had to do. In the past, Snape had been known to add more length on if he heard a student whine about the current assignment.

**-o-O-o-**

Sitting down for supper, Harry glanced over at Draco, who was obviously waiting to catch his eye. Once they locked eyes, Draco turned and continued talking to his Slytherin classmates. Harry watched him for most of the meal.

Shifting his eyes to the right, Harry noticed the look on Grahams face. Graham had been watching him and did not look very happy. Harry decided that he was going to have to deal with that situation soon.

After supper, when Harry was leaving the Great Hall, he felt someone touch his back. Turning around, he saw Graham.

Graham linked arms with him and guided him into the hallway and then took him behind one of the staircases for more privacy.

"I don't know what's going on, but I want an explanation." Graham demanded.

"I'm not sure what you're talking about. I haven't lead you on about anything, so I don't really owe you an explanation."

"Oh yes you do. You've been flirting back with me and teasing me since the party last month."

"No, that's all in your head, Graham. I already told you before, that I'm not interested in you in that way. And me being nice to you instead of telling you to fuck off is not considered teasing or flirting in my opinion! You're reading into it the way you want to, not the way it's really happening."

Graham looked frustrated. "Why did you kiss Draco in Zonko's? You and I were getting along good up until that point."

"See, this is what I'm talking about! I was being nice to you on Saturday, but from my viewpoint, it was only us tagging around each other and not like we were there _together_ or anything."

"Well it felt like that to me. I really like you, Harry."

"Well I'm sorry, but I don't feel the same way. So if you're going to constantly get confused about where we stand, which is only as acquaintances, then I'm going to have to stop being friendly with you altogether so that you won't keep getting the wrong idea."

Graham grabbed Harry's arm. "What do you mean? Are you saying you want to be my enemy?" He then pushed Harry back up against the wall. "Tell me why you kissed Draco? What's he have that I don't?"

"Less aggressiveness, I'd say." Draco said, appearing suddenly behind Graham.

Draco was standing there, looking as if nothing was wrong, twirling his wand through his fingers.

Graham backed away from Harry and looked back and forth between them. "What's going on with you two?"

"Nothing that you need to know about. Now excuse me while I escort Harry to his tower."

They walked off, leaving Graham standing there fuming.

Walking up all the flights of stairs, including the shifting ones, they didn't talk about anything. Both boys were deep in thought by the time they were standing near the Fat Lady's portrait.

When they stopped walking, Harry turned towards Draco.

"So thanks for getting me away from him. He's really starting to creep me out."

"I just think he just has a huge crush on you, not that I can blame him. But don't worry, after I have a talk with him tonight he will be leaving you alone from now on."

"Thanks."

Both boys were looking at each other when Harry stepped forward to embrace Draco. Harry put his arms around Draco's neck; Draco's arms then wrapped around his waist. Harry breathed him in and decided that he definitely liked the smell that was Draco. Then he placed his head onto the taller boy's shoulder causing Draco to grip him tighter. The hug lingered until they heard someone start to walk up the stairs. Harry broke off and gave Draco a smile as he walked the rest of the way to the Portrait. When he was walking through it, he gave a quick wave goodbye.

Entering the Common Room, Harry was accosted by Ron.

"What did Graham want?"

"Just to talk. He's mental. Thinks I've been teasing him even though I told him upfront how I feel about him."

"What a leech. Well I won't leave you alone with him again."

"Yeah, that would be nice." Harry replied.

"Let's get started on our Potion's essays." Hermione called out to the boys from a table in the corner. She was already saving them both seats.

**-o-O-o-**

Tuesday started off as any regular day. The only difference was that at breakfast, when Harry saw Draco, his heart sped up a little bit. He quickly dismissed it and continued eating.

Later that day, seeing Draco in the hallway made Harry think back to years ago when they used to always sneer at each other in passing. Today Harry realized that Draco hadn't harassed him a couple of years and he wondered why he never noticed it before.

When they caught each other's eyes while passing, they held contact for as long as possible. Harry was starting to realize his attraction for the blond boy. How he had never acknowledged Draco's good looks before was beyond him. Now he easily could admit that Draco was the most attractive person in school and it made his legs feel weak knowing that Draco only had eyes for him.

Wondering why, Harry thought about his own looks. He felt that he was average looking, he was easily the smallest boy of his year, and his hair was very unmanageable - the list could go on. How he had managed to capture Draco's attention years ago while they were still feuding was something he was curious about.

That night they had exchanged a few more letters. Harry was glad that they were back on writing terms.

The next few days were good as well although Harry had only seen Draco a few times in class, hallways, and the Great Hall. But it was never a good time to talk to him. His fascination towards Draco was growing bigger every day and he even found that he was having difficulty concentrating in classes they shared, because Harry would watch him throughout most of the lesson. During his current Transfigurations class, he discovered that he really wanted to run his fingers up and down the back of Draco's pale neck; which was very visible since Draco was looking down to take notes and his chin-length hair spilled on either side of his neck. Harry wanted to place kisses there to find out how Draco would react. He wondered if the boy would squirm as much as he imagined he would.

"Mister Potter?" McGonagall asked, sounding impatient.

"Yes, Professor?" Harry responded, looking up from Draco's neck.

"I asked why you weren't taking notes like everyone else."

"Oh, sorry Professor." Harry said as he tried to focus on the teacher instead of the boy he was fixated on.

**-o-O-o-**

The biggest excitement on Wednesday occurred when Harry walked into the Great Hall for supper. Hedwig appeared through a window and flew down to him. Harry looked at the thick letter and cast _Specialis Revelio,_ to test it before he opened it. The spell revealed that there was hidden magic inside.

Harry looked up to Professor Dumbledore, who was already watching him as if he knew something was going on.

Seeing the result of the spell, Hermione warned, "Don't open it, Harry!"

"I hadn't planned on it."

Harry looked back to the staff table and saw that Dumbledore was beckoning him. Harry got up and walked to the staff table and stood in front of the Headmaster. He then handed the letter to Professor Dumbledore.

"Yes, good thing you checked before opening it. I'll look into this. Why don't you stop by my office around 7 o'clock tonight?"

"Yes, sir." Harry said before he turned around to go back to his seat.

After he sat down, he glanced up at Draco who then tilted his head towards the doors. Harry nodded and a few minutes later excused himself from the table, telling his friends that he wasn't very hungry.

Harry walked through the doors and sat at the bottom of one of the staircases. A couple minutes later, Draco walked through the door.

"What was that all about, are you okay?" Draco asked while walking up to Harry and placing his hand on Harry's arm.

Warmth of pleasure went through Harry's body.

Harry stood up and they started walking down one of the nearby hallways.

"Yeah, no. I mean, I don't know who it was from, but apparently it had hidden magic inside, so I didn't open it. I'm not sure what it was."

"Well it's a good thing you checked."

"Yeah, I'm not too worried about it. If it's from Lestrange, she's obviously crazier and more unstable than I thought... thinking that something that simple would trick me."

"Either that, or maybe she did something that juvenile to put you off guard for something else she has planned. You should really be careful."

"I will, thanks."

After their short conversation, people started filling out of the Great Hall. Harry waved goodbye to Draco and joined the Gryffindor students in walking up towards their tower; Draco met up with Pansy and walked towards the Dungeons.

A couple hours later Harry was making his way down the stairs towards Dumbledore's office. While talking with the Headmaster, he was basically told what he had already figured out. The letter had a portkey inside of it and it was a very weak attempt on Lestrange's part. The thing that concerned Draco also was concerning Dumbledore – whether or not this attempt was lame on purpose and she had something better brewing.

**-o-O-o-**

Thursday was pretty uneventful. Classes dragged by as usual. Harry could now safely say that his crush on Draco was progressing even further. He shocked himself when he realized he was actually looking _forward_ to going to Potions for the first time in seven years – just so he could see Draco. Meals were quickly becoming his favorite part of his day, just so he could watch him. Harry couldn't imagine what it must have felt like for Draco to have been crushing on him for years and never get any response from him besides narrowed eyes. Harry felt like such an arse when he realized this. Harry's day seemed to get better the more he got to see him. He already felt connected with Mischief, but now he was developing a huge attraction for Draco. Now every time Harry saw him, his stomach felt like a weight had been put in it.

**-o-O-o-**

Friday was a little disconcerting for the seventh years, who realized the following day they should have been going to Hogsmeade – but instead would be spending the entire day having classes with very grumpy teachers. Seamus went around trying to spread cheer and remind all four Houses that it was worth it. He even had the photos to prove it since Colin had gotten many rolls of film developed and was showing them around.

Even at breakfast, with Snape wearing a smirk that read, _'I'll make you pay,'_ Seamus was still trying to bring up everyone's mood. At least they were lucky enough to not have lost all their Hogsmeade trips for the rest of the school year, he would remind them.

After the last class that day, most of the seventh-year students went to their Common Rooms to do homework and study because they wouldn't be having a free Saturday like usual. They were positive that all the teachers would be giving them loads of homework to do as payback for them losing out on their Saturday as well. Most of the seventh years went to bed very late that night.

Waking up early on Saturday, all the seventh years rushed to get ready and put on their uniforms. A schedule was in their mailbox telling them which classes to go to and at what time.

Breakfast was very short and depressing, because they knew all the other years were sleeping in and would be heading out to play outside or go to Hogsmeade in a few hours.

Harry's first class was Transfigurations. Professor McGonagall provided them with a very long and boring lecture that they had to take detailed notes on. She assigned them a four-foot long essay due at their next class.

For Charms, Professor Flitwick must have had an agreement with McGonagall, because he gave a long and more boring lecture than usual. His assignment was a two-foot long essay.

Herbology was extremely dull as well. Professor Sprout had borrowed an unused classroom in the castle and gave a long lecture and made them take notes. This was the first time they weren't in the greenhouse doing something interesting. She too, assigned them an essay.

The rest of Harry's classes went like that. The teachers must have all gotten together and decided to do nothing but give drab lectures and assign long essays. Harry knew he wouldn't be getting much sleep tonight either, because he had to do his homework if he wanted to go to the Hufflepuff party the following night.

Lunch was cut short – they didn't have the full hour they usually did. They were given twenty minutes to eat and make it to the next class.

Finally, the last class on Harry's schedule was Potions. He was dreading this more than any other class. By this time it was almost 3pm and he was exhausted like all the other students. The class was two hours long today.

"Take out your quills and parchment," Professor Snape snapped as he entered the classroom. "You will be taking notes for the entire length of class."

And just like all the other classes, Professor Snape gave a lecture on the most boring aspects of Potions. After only fifteen minutes of class, Harry was starting to drift off.

Snape noticed this and picked up a book and slammed it on Harry's desk, making him jump up in his chair.

"Stand up, Mister Potter!" Snape yelled. "Now!"

When Harry stood up, Snape waved his wand and Harry's chair disappeared.

"There. You will be standing for the rest of class. Don't drift off again."

With the class being two hours long today, Harry wasn't sure how he was going to be able to stand up for the rest of the class. They still had an hour and forty-five minutes left and he was exhausted as it was. Plus, he had to hold his notepad on his arm and take notes that way. His notes were quickly becoming messier than usual.

Throughout the rest of the class, Harry was shifting from foot to foot. This was irritating Snape and he called on Harry many times to answer questions, causing Gryffindor to lose House points over and over.

The class dragged on and was by far the worst class of the day, just like Harry knew it would be. He just wanted to get back to his room and take a short nap. Every time Snape saw Harry pause in taking notes, he handed him a book to stack underneath the parchment he was taking notes on. Before long, his feet were hurting and his arms felt like they weren't attached any longer. By the end of class, Harry was holding a stack of five thick books in his left arm. It hurt so bad to keep holding them up, but Harry wouldn't give Snape the satisfaction of giving in and lowering his arm. For the past thirty minutes, Harry had been writing down random words, pretending to take notes. He couldn't concentrate on anything except to keep standing up and holding the books. It was a good thing Snape didn't look at his notes.

"Put down your quills." Snape spat. "Your homework will be to write a five-foot long essay, due on Monday."

When the students filed into the hall, they started complaining about the day.

"I can't believe he made you stand for two hours taking notes! And with those books too!" Hermione stated.

"I wonder if he's even allowed to do that?" Ron asked.

"It's too late now, it's already done." Harry said, while walking up the stairs towards the Great Hall. He saw Draco out of the corner of his eye, but didn't want to look at him. He was afraid it would cause him to fall apart if he saw any trace of pity on his face.

The students filed into the Great Hall.

"Finally." Harry said grumpily as he sat down at the table, feeling relieved to be able to sit down.

"We have so much homework! How are we possibly going to get it all done?" Ron asked.

"I wonder if Hufflepuff will be canceling the party tomorrow?" Hermione wondered.

"They better not! It will be the only good thing about this whole weekend." Ron said.

"Well I guess we better hurry up and eat so we can get started on our homework." Hermione said.

And that's just what they did. All the seventh years stayed up well past midnight, even though they were getting disoriented after doing homework for over seven hours straight. It was officially the worst Saturday in all of Harry's years at Hogwarts.

Heading up to his dorm, Harry saw that his mailbox was glowing. He removed the paper and read:

Dear Harry,

Are you upset with me? I tried to catch your eye after Potions today, but you wouldn't look at me. I was so pissed at Snape for what he did to you; I had to control myself so I wouldn't lash out at him. I have lost some respect for the man after today.

I was trying to catch your eye because I wanted to offer you a piggyback ride to the Great Hall since I knew your feet would be hurting.

Anyway, I hope you have a good night even though it's not likely since we will all be up doing our homework until the morning…

Hope to hear from you soon,

Draco

**-o-O-o-**

Many floors below, Draco was finishing up his Transfigurations essay. It was a little difficult because he couldn't concentrate very well. He had written to Harry about five hours ago and still hadn't received a reply. This made him think that Harry was, in deed, upset with him. He hated the fact that every ten minutes or so, he would glance up at his mailbox to see if it was glowing yet, but he couldn't seem to stop himself.

When he was writing the last paragraph for his essay, he looked up. His mailbox looked like it was glowing. He closed his eyes, sure he was imagining it, and opened them up again. It was still glowing. He forced himself to finish the essay before he got up because he didn't want his roommates to see how eager he was.

After retrieving the letter, he walked back to his desk and sat down. He had been waiting for this reply for many hours, but now that he had it in his hands he couldn't bring himself to open it. His fear was that the letter would be brief and something to the effect of, _'Yes, I'm obviously mad at you. Why else would I purposefully ignore you? By the way, thanks for sticking up for me in Potions today, it showed how much you care.'_

After debating whether or not to open it now or wait until after he woke up, he finally, took in a deep breath and opened the letter.

Dear Draco,

I'm sorry that I didn't respond earlier. I was doing homework until a few minutes ago down in the Common Room. Yes, I did purposefully ignore you after class – but it wasn't because I was upset with you. It's hard to explain but I'll try. I didn't want to appear weak in front of Snape, and when I saw you in the hallway I knew if I talked to you that I would lose it and he would see me come undone. I guess I would have wanted you to comfort me, whereas I could just take all the words my friends were giving me in stride without falling apart. I hope you can understand. I am sorry that I made you think otherwise.

I want to invite you to the Hufflepuff party tomorrow (or rather, tonight, seeing as it is 3am on Sunday now). This is assuming they are still having it. I am finished with most of my homework and after I get some sleep I will finish up the rest before the party.

I can meet you there around 9pm if you want. Let me know.

Exhaustedly yours,

Harry

**-o-O-o-**

Draco released the breath he had been holding. 'I guess if someone's going to ignore you, this would be the best reason ever.' Draco concluded, feeling relieved.

He quickly jotted off a reply, accepting the invitation to the party and Harry's apology for ignoring him. This just might turn out to be a good weekend – after all.

**-o-O-o-**

When Harry woke up, it was still morning. He read the note from Draco and was thrilled that he would meet him at the party later. Harry then woke his roommates up and they all went to take a fast shower, get ready, and then rush down to breakfast before the kitchens stopped serving food.

After eating, they went back upstairs and got started on the rest of their essays. Many hours later, Harry finally finished all of his homework. His hand was cramped from all the non-stop writing. Looking around, he could see the other seventh years were flexing their cramped hands as well. By dinnertime, most of the students had finished all their homework, although every one of them was looking tired from the lack of sleep.

At the Great Hall, some of the Hufflepuff students were giving thumbs up signs to show that the party was not cancelled. The other students were glad and suddenly their moods improved. The grumpy and tired faces they were wearing all weekend were now looking bright and excited.

Harry got ready that night for the party. At Seamus' begging, Harry let him pick out clothes for him to wear and also tried to 'fix' his hair. In the end, it looked even more wild than usual. Seamus assured him it was a good look.

"So who's the date?" Seamus asked Harry. Besides Ron, none of the guys knew that Draco was Harry's Quill match yet.

"You'll see tonight."

"Are you sure? You're not just making this up, are you?"

"I promise, you'll get to see us together tonight." Harry answered.

**-o-O-o-**

Later that night, Harry was downstairs in the Common Room. All of the fourth years and above had already left for the party. Harry was playing a card game with a couple of the lower grades when he noticed the time.

"Oops, I really have to go." Harry said as he quickly stood up. He had told Draco to meet him at the party at nine o'clock and he was now ten minutes late. By the time he got to the party, he would be at least twenty minutes late.

When Harry finally walked into the party, he immediately spotted Draco sitting in a chair talking to some fellow Slytherins. Draco's back was to him. As Harry walked around the chair, he noticed what Draco was wearing. He had on a thin black hoodie over a blue shirt, and he was wearing comfortable looking black jeans. When Harry made it around the chair, he climbed on top of the blond boy's lap and squeezed Draco's hips with his knees.

"Hi pretty." Harry said as he leaned forward to plant a kiss on his forehead. "Sorry I'm late and sorry for ignoring you yesterday."

"Hmm," Draco answered as he put both hands on Harry's waist and held him there firmly. "How do you plan on making it up to me?" Draco asked, pretending to look innocent.

Harry stood up and took Draco by the hand, leading him out of the door, not caring about the shocked looks they were getting. The hallway was less noisy, although there were groups of people standing out there talking and goofing around.

They walked around until they found an abandoned hallway. Harry swiftly pulled Draco to him and bit his cheek. Draco made a deep throaty noise and roughly pulled Harry closer to him, now their hips were practically smashed together. Harry put both hands on Draco's arse and ground himself into the other boy, causing more noises to come out of his mouth. Harry ground himself up against the willing boy in front of him a few more times, growing more excited when he realized Draco had gotten very hard.

Harry seized Draco's lips and forcefully kissed him as he slowly backed Draco up against a wall. Their mouths opened and both tongues fought for dominance in the kiss. Keeping his body flush against Draco's, Harry backed his head away from the blond boy. Draco's mouth followed Harry's – but Harry used both of his hands to shove Draco's shoulders back, keeping him completely against the wall. Harry looked deep into Draco's beautiful gray eyes and smiled wickedly. Very slowly, he started to drop to his knees. Draco's eyes went wide with excitement and a soft moan escaped from his lips. As Harry was undoing his belt and zipper, Draco lifted Harry's face up and peered into his eyes.

"Wait, Harry. I… I need to know where we stand."

Harry smirked. "I thought this made it pretty obvious."

Draco rubbed both of Harry's lips with his thumb. "Please."

"Hm. Well, this past week has been torture for me, realizing my huge crush on you and wanting to touch you so badly. I can't even imagine how it must have been for you all those years."

Draco bit his bottom lip and Harry continued. "Not what you're looking for? Okay then, yes, I want to be your boyfriend. Now let me show you the benefits of that."

Harry continued fiddling around with Draco's pants until they dropped to the floor. He didn't need to touch Draco to tell that his erection was threatening to burst through his shorts. He slowly lowered them, taking in the sight. The hallway was dimly lit with candles, but he could make out every detail of the enlarged member in front of his face.

Draco was a hefty size and Harry wrapped his hand around it, causing an unrecognizable word to escape from Draco's mouth. Harry put his face closer to the shaft and stuck his tongue out. He licked up the precome and then proceeded to swirl his tongue around Draco's head. At this point, Draco lifted his arms high above his own head, scratching at the wall behind him.

Harry removed his mouth from the swollen head and licked up and down all the sides of the shaft to make it wet, in preparation for what he was going to do next. After all the sides were wet, he went back to licking the sensitive head and opened his mouth wider. He went down a little bit and then came back up; after a few rounds of this he was now taking the entire length into his mouth. Above him, Draco was making some crazy noises.

Harry was making sure to caress Draco's sack with his free hand. After working the shaft with his mouth for a few minutes, he lifted his mouth off and heard Draco whimper in loss. Harry tilted his head down and started licking and sucking on Draco's ballsack. Then he leaned up and was placing his mouth back onto the throbbing member, but this time used his hand along with his mouth to keep a rhythm going that was apparently driving Draco senseless.

He knew Draco was getting close to orgasm because the mouth above him was getting louder with its moans and whines. Draco started bucking gently into Harry's mouth. At last, Draco came with a very long roar into Harry's mouth. Harry swallowed every drop, kissed the head, and then lifted Draco's pants up from the ground.

Draco pulled his shorts on and then his jeans. When he finished fastening his belt, he gave Harry a long kiss on his lips and then grabbed Harry by the shoulders and pinned him against the wall.

"You're still hard." Harry stated after Draco pressed his body full against him.

"I could go again, yes." Draco said with a smile as he kissed up and down Harry's neck. "But I want to return the favor."

As Draco started to drop to his knees, Harry grabbed Draco's arms and lifted him up. When Draco was standing back up he gave Harry a questioning look.

Harry leaned forward and pressed his lips against Draco's, causing him to forget what he had planned on doing – until Harry ground his hips up against the body in front of him.

Draco got the picture and started grinding up against Harry. Harry, who hadn't come in days, was whimpering into Draco's open mouth as they kissed. It felt so good to Harry that a few minutes was all it took. Harry's moans started getting closer and closer, until it was one long syllable.

When Draco knew Harry was about to explode, he shoved his hand into his pants so he could feel him when he came. His thumb could feel the spray every time it shot up and his palm could feel the throbbing of Harry's release. His hand was soaked by the time he lost it himself and orgasmed for the second time that night.

Draco removed his hand and placed it on Harry's hip, under his shirt. He continued holding the green-eyed boy up against the wall, placing very wet and long closed-mouthed kisses on Harry's lips. After a couple minutes, Draco pulled back and took his wand out of his jacket pocket and cleaned the evidence off of him and Harry.

Then Draco leaned both elbows on either side of Harry's face, and with a huge smile said, "So, boyfriend, I enjoyed that very much. You're amazing and I can't wait to play with you again."

Harry chuckled and said, "Mmn, you tasted good." Then he wrapped his arms around Draco and pulled him into a tight hug.

When they broke off they started walking down the hall back to the party. Draco reached down and linked his fingers with Harry's.

After they entered the room, they found an empty chair and sat down. The chair was large for one person, but for two, it forced them to sit very close together, which wasn't a bad thing.

"Well, you two look like you had fun out there." Pansy said as she stepped in front of the two boys.

"Does this mean you two are together now?" Hermione asked, with hope sparkling in her eyes.

"Most definitely." Was the answer Draco gave her.

Instead of answering, Harry leaned slightly to the side, wrapped both arms around Draco, and placed his head on his shoulder and then closed his eyes.

Harry was content to stay like that all night, but sometime later the sound of one of his favorite songs made him open his eyes.

He quickly stood up. "Draco, dance with me." Harry said as he pulled Draco by the hand in the direction of the make shift dance floor.

Remembering how much he wanted to dance with Harry at the last party, Draco gladly accepted the invitation.

Neither boy noticed the odd looks they were getting from the other students. They weren't bad stares, just slightly shocked looks at seeing the two former enemies looking so happy together.

Harry and Draco danced together for most of the night. It didn't matter what type of song it was, fast or slow, they stayed on the dance floor. At least an hour had gone by when another good song ended. Both boys were sweating from the intense dancing.

"Want me to get you a drink?" Draco offered.

"That would be great, thanks."

Draco walked off towards the bar and the next thing Harry knew, he was getting tapped on his back. Turning around, he found he was staring into someone's neck. Looking up, he found a familiar face.

"Wow, you two look cozy." Ron said. "I'll admit that I was freaked out when I first heard he was your Quill match. But now I can see how the sorting hat would pair you two together."

"Me too. I can't believe it took me this long to realize it."

Ron put his hands on Harry's shoulders and they started dancing, with quite a bit of space between them.

"So are you two a couple now?" Ron asked.

"Yes, officially and exclusively."

"Good. I was starting to get concerned about you this past week. I guess you've been zoning out thinking about him, huh?"

"Am I that transparent?"

"Well at the time, no. It looked almost like you were sulking or something. Hermione wouldn't let me ask you about it though."

"It would have been hard to explain."

"Well I'm glad things worked out for you two."

Ron removed his hands from Harry's shoulder and stepped back, looking behind him.

"So, it looks like you're making him happy. Just keep it that way, alright?" Ron said to Draco.

Draco handed Harry a bottle of water and turned back to Ron. "That's my intention." He replied.

Ron nodded and turned around to find Luna.

"Well, he was very accepting." Draco said, sounding a slightly shocked.

"Yeah, thankfully." Harry agreed.

After that, they went and found a couch to sit down at. Harry started massaging Draco's palm.

"What's this for?" Draco asked, almost purring.

"Doesn't your hand hurt from writing all those essays?" Harry asked.

"If you don't let me fall asleep, I'll return the favor." Draco promised.

**-o-O-o-**

Waking up the following day, Harry was fully exhausted. The weekend started off horribly, but last night sure made up for it. Sneaking out to Hogsmeade was worth all the hell that Saturday brought for sure. Harry didn't even want to think about how things would be if he didn't pick up that piece of Dandy Candy that Draco tried to throw out.

When Harry finally made it to breakfast, Hermione shoved a newspaper into Harry's hands.

Before he could open his mouth to ask what he was supposed to be looking at, the title on the front page jumped out at him.

………**The Chosen One Chooses Homosexuality?………**

Harry Potter goes gay? We have it under exclusive knowledge that our

Golden Boy Hero is officially dating someone at Hogwarts. Who is this

lucky person, you ask?

Our secret-spiller has informed us that Harry Potter has recently started dating

Draco Malfoy. Yes - the son of Death Eater Lucius Malfoy who is now enjoying

his time in Azkaban thanks to his son's lover.

We are trying to get an interview with Lucius Malfoy to find out what he thinks

about his only son dating the boy who took away his freedom for the second time.

**-o-O-o-**

Harry couldn't even finish reading the article. He decided that this was probably revenge for him not accepting the interview with Rita Skeeter a couple of months ago, regarding the Bellatrix Lestrange deal. _'People were bound to find out at some point.' _Harry thought.

Harry looked up at Draco to see what his reaction to the news was. Draco shrugged his shoulders and Harry was relieved. At least now they wouldn't have to worry about people finding out about or hiding their relationship.

_-end of chapter-_

**------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------**

Note: Thanks to those of you who have stuck with my story this far!

Note: Thanks to _ReadingWench_ who told me one of my paragraphs was worded like shit! I fixed it. (If you're curious which one, it was the fourth one down, starting with 'They had been exchanging'). Thanks!


	18. The Key ch17

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**:Chapter Seventeen: **_**The Key**_

"Now, don't tell the other Professors, but I realize that all of you have had a rough weekend and probably were up late every night doing essays and homework as punishment for sneaking of to Hogsmeade," Madame Hooch started, "so today I am going to give you an easy lesson. We'll start with stretches and then walk laps around the Pitch. No brooms today! I don't want any mishaps because the lot of you are exhausted!"

"Hope nobody tells her about the party Hufflepuff held last night!" Ron whispered to Harry.

Harry was slightly disappointed that he wouldn't be riding his broom this morning, but he had to agree with Madame Hooch – looking around he realized that everyone was tired and probably not in the best condition to be doing anything that required intense concentration.

After the stretches, all the students started walking around the Pitch. After one lap, a couple of the Hufflepuffs walked to the middle of the Pitch and started laying down on the grass and staring up into the sky.

"I guess I'm more tired than I thought." Harry said as he decided to stop and sit down on the grass. Most of the students then decided to stop walking and rest.

Someone sat next to him and he turned his head and smiled when he saw who it was.

"Draco!" Harry exclaimed.

"Good morning, Gryffindors." Draco said in return.

"Aren't your Slytherin buddies going to miss you?" Ron asked as he nodded towards the group of Slytherins far away from everyone else.

"They can fend for themselves." Draco said while pulling Harry closer to him. Then they both leaned back, shoulders touching, and looked up to the sky.

"I'm definitely not looking forward to next period." Harry commented.

"Me either, I'm still pissed at Snape for what he did to you on Saturday."

"Don't worry about it, I survived."

"Still doesn't make it right."

Harry sighed. "So what did you think about the article this morning?"

"The Daily Prophet? I'll be surprised if Skeeter gets my Father to cooperate. Last I heard, he's trying to be a good little prisoner so he can get released."

"What do you mean?"

"He's afraid to say anything negative about you. It wouldn't look good in the eyes of the public. I'll admit, he probably still hates you for sending him to Azkaban – but I'm sure he regrets not switching sides before you killed the Dark Lord, even more."

"If your Father does manage to weasel his way-"

"Hey!" Shouted Ron.

"Sorry." Harry said and restarted. "If your Father does manage to get himself freed from Azkaban, what do you think will happen? I mean, you wouldn't take the Dark Mark and he wasn't too happy." Harry asked, being vague because his roommates were obviously listening. He was sure Draco didn't want anyone to know that Lucius beat him so badly that his mother had to hide him and nurse him back to health.

"I'm not sure. Either he will pretend that_ incident_ never happened, or he will find a way to punish me for not choosing his side."

Harry cringed as he reached down to grab Draco's hand.

**-o-O-o-**

Next class period, they entered the Potions classroom. Draco sat next to Harry. When Professor Snape entered, it took him all of two seconds to notice the new seating arrangement. The look of confusion on his face told Harry that apparently none of the teachers new about him and Draco going out yet.

Draco glared at Snape as if to say, _'I dare you to harass Harry now.' _And underneath the desk, he squeezed Harry's thigh.

When class was over, Harry was surprised. Snape had managed to leave him alone for the entire class. He wondered how the rest of the year would be. Of course, Snape could easily turn back into an arse, considering that he might have only left Harry alone today out of pure shock.

"That wasn't so bad." Draco commented. They were walking towards the Great Hall for lunch and Harry's head was leaning on Draco's shoulder; their hands were interlocked.

"All thanks to you." Harry replied, placing a kiss on the other boy's hand.

When they were close to the doors of the Great Hall, they let go of each other, smiled, and walked to their separate tables.

Harry sat down beside Hermione.

"We should go on a double date." She said to Harry.

"Er… right. Sounds good." Harry replied, looking around for Ron and realizing that quite a few of his classmates were missing from the table.

"I was thinking at the next Hogsmeade trip, we can go into Madame Puddifoot's."

Harry glared at her.

"It won't be anything like your date with Cho, I promise!"

"Alright." He answered still not sounding pleased, but he was more interested in where his classmates were.

The rest of supper was pretty uneventful until Ron and Seamus came speed walking through the door. Supper was almost over. Leaning over Harry and Hermione's shoulders, they grabbed some rolls and Ron stuffed his pocket with anything he could find that wasn't messy.

"Hey Harry, Seamus bought a new board game through mail order and it just came!" Ron stated.

"Yeah, it's brilliant! There's dice that you roll, and your characters have to overcome certain obstacles – which are timed to blow up – before you can get to the end!"

"We're going back up to play now. You coming?" Ron asked as they were turning around to leave.

"Yeah sure, I'll be up in a minute." Harry called after him.

"Wow, it must be a good game if it's able to keep Ron away from food for this long." Hermione said, clearly shocked.

Harry and Hermione arrived in the Common Room and found some of their classmates laying in the middle of the floor, around a large square board. There were 3D objects, and some parts of the game stood a good yard off the floor. It looked like caves and lots of trails, some forest too. Since they were already playing, Harry decided to go ahead and change into his nightclothes. Entering his room, he found that his mailbox was glowing. Taking out the parchment, he read:

Dear Jolt,

Meet me near the dock at the lake. Sometime after 7. Dress warm!

Yours,

Mischief

**-o-O-o-**

Harry had less than two hours before he had to meet Draco. He bundled up in layers and was wearing two shirts, a medium weight hoodie, and then a thick jacket over that. He was actually wearing pajama bottoms underneath his jeans and a couple layers of socks. He tucked some gloves into his pocket and pulled the hood up over his head before heading back into the Common Room to sit by the fire.

"You're over-dressed, Harry. Are you going to play the next round with us or do you have other plans?" Ron asked him.

"I'm meeting up with Draco later."

"Oh. Well hopefully you'll get to play at least one round... Oh no!" Ron said, as his miniature character tumbled down a cliff and fell into a sand trap.

The game was drawing a lot of attention. Most of the Gryffindors were now gathered around the board game, watching intensely. By the time that game ended, Ron asked Harry if he wanted to join in. He looked at the time and declined. It was getting close to 7 so he opted to just watch. About a half hour later, he stood up and said goodbye to everyone and exited the Fat Lady portrait.

By the time Harry made it to the lake, he could see Draco standing with his arms wrapped around himself. Harry walked up to him and threw his arms around the slightly taller boy's body, trying to make him warm.

"Meeting outside sounded like a much better idea earlier, when I was sitting near the fire." Draco said.

Harry unzipped Draco's coat and wrapped his arms around him.

"Mmn." Draco said, leaning into him.

"So why did you want to meet out here? It's getting dark and it's cold." Harry asked.

"I just wanted to get away from everyone and I knew no one would be outside since it's the end of November."

"At least it's not snowing yet!" Harry said, not really caring about the weather. He had more interesting things in mind. He zipped Draco's coat back up and took his hand, leading him away from the lake and towards the Quidditch Pitch.

After a few minutes of walking in silence, Draco asked, "What are you thinking about?"

"Truthfully? What it will take to take to warm you up." He answered with a smirk.

Draco looked at Harry with such lust in his eyes, Harry almost forgot how to walk and nearly tripped over his own feet.

After making it to the Pitch, Harry pulled him in the direction of the broom shed.

"It'll block us from the wind." Harry said.

They stepped inside and Harry cast a strong locking charm on the door. His heart was beating quickly as he pulled Draco to him and kissed his cold lips.

"Yeah, you're cold alright. Let me see what I can do about that."

Harry unzipped Draco's coat again and started rubbing him on his back and chest. When his hand accidentally went under Draco's shirt, Draco stiffened.

"Cold!" Draco announced.

"Well, aren't you spoiled?" Harry said as he removed his hands and rubbed them together for friction. Less than a minute later he was placing them on Draco's back again, rubbing him.

"Much better." Draco purred into Harry's neck.

Harry looked around and found a spare red Quaffle and transfigured it into a huge pillow – nearly the size of a beanbag chair. Draco laid down against it while Harry removed his thick jacket and hoodie. Harry then sat down pressing his back against Draco's chest. He pulled the two jackets over himself to keep warm and Draco wrapped his arms tightly around him. He could feel the heat radiating from Draco's body and it warmed him.

They sat there in silence for a bit. Harry was the first to speak.

"So what are _you_ thinking about?"

"Mmn." Draco said, "I was thinking about how badly I want to be in you." And he placed a kiss onto the back of Harry's head.

Harry instantly started getting hard. He rolled over so they were now laying chest to chest. "Oh really?" He asked, with a smirk. "Who says you get to top?"

"I do. I've never bottomed for anyone." Draco said.

"Neither have I."

Draco looked surprised, so Harry added, "The guy I was with over the summer loved to bottom – so it was never an issue."

"Well I do love topping, but I love you even more," Harry's green eyes grew large and Draco continued, "so truthfully I want to do everything with you."

Harry smiled. "Even bottoming for me?"

"Half the time, yes."

Harry leaned in to kiss the cold-once-again lips in front of him. He took in everything, the taste, the smell, and the feel of the boy underneath him.

"Looks like I'm the top right now." Harry announced when there was a break in the kiss. He started rubbing Draco's erection through his pants.

"There's no way I'm taking my clothes off in this weather!" Draco exclaimed.

Harry chuckled. "You really hate being cold, huh?"

"More than I could tell you. Leaving the castle when it's almost December is not the most genius plan I've ever had."

"Well I'm still enjoying it." Harry said seconds before he used his hand to undo Draco's belt; a moment later he was unbuttoning and unzipping his pants.

When Harry went to undo his own jeans, Draco caught him off guard and flipped him over onto the huge pillow. Both boys pulled their pants down to just below their bums and when Draco pressed his full body's weight against Harry, they both inhaled deeply at the skin on skin contact. Draco rubbed his erection up against Harry's and then Harry leaned up to suck on Draco's bottom lip.

After a wild bucking session, Draco wrapped his hand around Harry's shaft. Harry returned the favor. Both boy's arms were working hard to wank each other off and when Draco was close, he leaned down and bit Harry's neck. As he was coming, he placed his face into the crook of his neck to muffle his screams. Harry joined him soon after.

Taking a few moments to rest, Harry said, "I like that you're so noisy."

"You're loud yourself." Draco replied.

Harry cleaned up the mess with wandless magic and both boys pulled their pants up. Then they leaned side by side against the pillow, facing each other.

"Next time, let's find an empty room in the castle to go to so I can feel all of you against me." Draco stated.

"Mm, sounds good." Harry replied.

Looking into Draco's eyes, Harry asked, "So, what made you start to like me?"

Draco smiled and replied, "In fourth year, when you were fighting the dragon at the Triwizard Tournament – I realized that I was worried for you instead of happy to see you in danger. It freaked me out and I tried to force myself to hate you, but I couldn't. Then I started to think about everything and, well, you know how we could never leave each other alone -- always finding some reason to fight with each other? It made me wonder why you didn't ever fight with Vincent or Gregory like that. Then I realized it was because they didn't matter to you. I noticed that I never picked constant fights with anyone besides you. I tried to tell myself that it was because I hated you, but if I truly did I wouldn't obsess over you that much... I wouldn't even bother dealing with you, because you wouldn't be important. So apparently, me constantly needing to be around you - even for fighting - must have meant that I did care about you. After some time, I finally accepted it."

"Wow. I wish I would have realized it sooner." Harry said, cuddling closer to Draco's warm body.

"I'm just glad you finally did."

After the body heat from their little encounter died off, they walked back to the castle, embraced tightly, and then snuck off to their rooms.

**-o-O-o-**

As the days went by, the students and teachers became used to seeing Harry and Draco together. Dumbledore requested Harry's presence in his office to congratulate them on finally getting together. He also warned Harry that he had a bad feeling that something was going to happen soon. Harry told him that he was already being careful and planned to stay as far away from the crazy lady as possible.

Harry and Draco met up as often as they could, but being seventh years and having more homework and essays due than ever – it was hard. The teachers were relentless in their assignments because they were preparing them for graduation and the N.E.W.T. exams at the end of the school year.

After searching around for a couple days, the boys finally found an empty classroom they liked on the third floor near the Charms classroom. It was almost an even distance between the Gryffindor and Slytherin dorms. They frequented it and transfigured some of the desks and chairs into a nice large sofa for them to share and transfigured some parchment rolls into very soft fleece blankets. Draco often joked that it was perfect – but would be slightly nicer if there was a fireplace in the room.

They tried to meet up whenever possible to spend time together; usually staying way past curfew and would have to sneak back to their dorms, avoiding Filch, Snape, and Peeves.

The following Friday night, Harry and Draco met up in their room. Harry was sitting on the couch waiting for Draco. When he appeared, he practically bounced into the room and threw himself down on top of Harry. Their mouths met instantly and waves of pleasure flooded through their bodies.

"I'm going to pay you back." Draco stated with a menacing look on his face.

"For what?" Harry asked, trying to think of what the other boy could possibly mean.

"You'll see."

Draco reached down and slowly removed Harry's jeans and shorts. When this happened, Harry immediately grew hard in anticipation of what would happen next. Then Draco removed the rest of Harry's clothes and sweetly kissed his way from the tanned neck down to the fully hard erection.

Draco wrapped his hand around Harry and began to stroke him. Then he hunched over and placed his mouth onto his new toy and started working it, using both of his hands as well. Every time Harry would get close to orgasm, Draco would back off, give him a few moments, and then go back to sucking him. Much later, when he finally allowed Harry's release happen, it spilled onto the tanned stomach before Draco could catch the last pulses with his mouth. Then he leaned forward and drank up the spilled juice, to Harry's delight.

"You're the best boyfriend ever. Come here." Harry said as he pulled Draco towards him.

Draco obliged and they were instantly kissing, very slowly and passionately.

"I don't think I'll ever get used to this." Harry said, panting after they broke off.

"You better not. I still feel like I'm daydreaming half the time I'm with you." Draco replied.

After a few minutes break, Harry squirmed his way out from under Draco to return the favor.

**-o-O-o-**

A week later, Harry was eating his breakfast when Hermione tried to shove the newspaper into his space.

"No thanks." Harry said, blocking it with his hand.

"The front page is Lucius Malfoy's response to you dating Draco." Hermione said. She had been waiting for this article for almost two weeks now.

"I don't care, I'm not reading it."

"Well it's not bad, he just says that although he is upset with you for putting him in prison, he would love the opportunity of freedom so he can watch his son grow up and be happy."

Harry almost choked on his pumpkin juice. "Right. I'm sure the Wizarding community will buy that."

"Well at least we know what angle he is going to use to try to get out of Azkaban."

"Yeah, crying for the second time that Voldemort had him under the Imperius was really weak. He should have tried to come up with something better." Harry said as he looked towards Draco. Draco rolled his eyes for Harry's benefit, and Harry shook his head.

Classes were going fine that day. Out of habit now, Harry rushed to the Great Hall for lunch so he could see Draco. When he glanced in the room – he didn't see the blond head so he stepped back into the hallway and leaned up against a wall. Moments later he saw the familiar face speed walking towards him. When Draco saw him waiting, he smiled. He pressed his body up against Harry's, smashing him into the wall and placed a gentle kiss on his lips.

"A couple more classes and we will be free for the day." Harry said.

"Can't wait." Draco replied as he pressed something into Harry's hand and then squeezed it shut.

They both walked into the Great Hall, separated, and sat down at their respective tables.

Harry glanced down at his hand to see what Draco had given him. It was a folded up piece of paper and he shoved it into his pocket to look at later. He then put a pile of roasted potatoes onto his plate and started eating while listening to the conversation about what plans everyone had for the weekend and for the upcoming Holiday break. Harry heard flapping of wings as the mail came in. He glanced up but didn't see Hedwig, so he continued eating.

A few minutes later, someone was screaming.

"Draco! DRACO!" Pansy was standing up and shrieking. The entire Hall went silent. Harry looked over but he couldn't see Draco anywhere.

"He's gone!" Pansy continued screaming, "Professor, help!" She said while looking at Snape.

Harry, Hermione, Dumbledore, Snape, and McGonagall all rushed over to the Slytherin table.

"What's the matter?" Dumbledore asked. If the situation hadn't looked so bad, people might have been amazed at how much faster he got to the table than everyone else.

"I think it was a portkey! Look." Pansy said shoving a letter into the Headmaster's hand. "It's a note from his mom, I know her handwriting! She sent him a box with a ring inside. When he went to pick it up, he disappeared!"

Harry was instantly numb. He grabbed the note and the empty box and frantically tried touching everything Draco had received, hoping that there was another portkey to take him wherever Draco was sent to. Hermione and McGonagall had grabbed his arms and tried pulling him away from the table, realizing what he was trying to do. But even though Harry was very small for his age, he had years of muscle built up from playing Quidditch and easily escaped their arms.

After Harry had picked up and touched everything possible, he sank to the ground, shaking.

"Noooo! It's because of me! It's all my fault!" Harry cried. Strong arms picked him up by his waist and carried him out of the Great Hall, while everyone was still frozen and watching what was going on.

As soon as they left the Great Hall, Harry was placed on his feet. He looked up and saw that Ron was the one who had carried him.

"I'm sorry Harry, we'll get him back." Ron offered. Hermione was busy consoling Pansy.

The Headmaster, Professors, and the few students followed them out into the hallway and started walking towards Dumbledore's office. They had to practically carry Harry and Pansy.

Once there, Dumbledore conjured up a few comfortable chairs and calming tea for everyone. It wasn't enough to calm Harry down though.

"If something happens to him, I'll never forgive myself. I'm so stupid! It didn't even occur to me that because of the damn article, that he could be in danger!" Harry yelled.

"You didn't know this was going to happen, Harry. You can't blame yourself!" Hermione told him.

"Right. A crazy unstable woman wants to kill me. It shouldn't have occurred to me that she would try to get to the person I love. Oh God." Harry said, choking back what he was thinking: _'We've never even made love yet.' _He thought to himself. He was trying not to cry in front of everyone, especially Snape, but his eyes were getting blurry with unspilled tears. He curled up into a ball in his chair so no one could see him.

Hermione was suddenly there wrapping her arms around him, trying to comfort the shaking body. It felt good, but Harry was so upset that he wouldn't let himself be consoled and tried to push her away with his hand.

The Professors were talking about the situation, but Harry wasn't able to pay attention. His heart was hurting so badly. He vaguely heard Snape floo through the fireplace to go to the Ministry and let the Aurors know what happened. Shortly after that Harry knew he had returned with company because the voice level got much higher with the Aurors asking all sorts of questions.

Harry was a complete mess and he didn't know what he could do to help Draco. He didn't even have a clue where he was. Some of the Aurors were leaving to go to Malfoy Manor – but Harry knew his love wouldn't be there.

**-o-O-o-**

The next thing Draco knew, he was arriving in a shack of some sort. The walls were crumbled all around and parts of the roof were caved in. It had a mucky old smell to it, like it had been abandoned for years.

Because he had been sitting on the bench when he touched the portkey and there wasn't one where the was transported to, he fell to the ground. He saw four legs appear in front of him and he looked up to see who they belonged to.

"Mother?" Draco said. "What's going on?"

Narcissa and Bellatrix yanked him off the ground and Narcissa slapped him hard. Bellatrix took his wand before he could react.

"How dare you! You're dating the half-blood that put your Father in Azkaban and destroyed the Dark Lord! How could you do this to your family?" Narcissa screamed. "I should have let your Father kill you when he had the chance! I protected you and this is how you repay me?"

"What? No…" Draco said, suddenly realizing the situation he was in.

"We're going to bring your pathetic little boyfriend here and kill him. You can watch." Bellatrix announced in a singsong voice, practically skipping with cheer.

"I don't understand. I thought you didn't want me to join Voldemort's Army!" Draco said while looking into his Mother's cold eyes.

"No, I fully supported the Dark Lord and your Father! I nursed you back to health because I thought you would have time to make the right choice and accept the Dark Mark. You disrespected your family by refusing! But by the time you were healed up, the War was almost over and it was looking bad for our side and I was afraid to lose you. But now you've gone and brought even more shame to our name by dating that scrawny scar-headed brat!"

"No, don't hurt him. I love him!"

Bellatrix was laughing in the background and said, "This is going to be so much fun! My Master will be thrilled. Harry Potter is sure to come and rescue you, if he truly has any feelings for you. And if he doesn't come, I'm sure you'll die of a broken heart waiting and we'll just have to find another way to get to him. Either way, this is sure to be fun!"

Narcissa pointed her wand at her son and pushed him in the direction to the back of the shack.

"You will stay here. We've put an alarm around the room, so don't try to sneak out. You'll regret it if you do." She said as she pushed Draco into an even smaller and messier room.

Draco stumbled into the room and heard the door slam shut behind him. He heard his mother putting complicated locks on the door so he couldn't open it. If he had his wand, he was sure he knew how to remove them, but Bellatrix had already taken it from him.

The first thing Draco noticed was the overpowering smell of all the piles of trash everywhere. It reeked of stale old body fluids, decomposing food, and other unrecognizable stench – and this was during the winter. He couldn't even imagine how bad the smell would be if it was summer time. This brought him to the second thing he noticed: the freezing temperature. He wasn't sure which he would prefer, the numbing cold of winter or the horrid smell the place would surely have during the summer.

Draco walked over to a corner and started kicking trash around, trying to find a spot on the carpet that wasn't stained with something. One of the corners didn't look too bad, so he made a small clear spot and sat down. He wondered how long he would be there.

As the sun started going down hours later, the temperature was quickly dropping. Draco teeth were chattering and he was freezing. He wasn't dressed warm at all since his entire day had been spent in the castle. The room his Mother and Aunt were in had a makeshift fire going when he arrived, but no heat was coming into his room. He stood up and gathered some of the nasty clothing he had kicked around earlier - picking up the cleanest ones possible. Then he went back to his corner and piled the clothing on top of him. He knew it would make him smell horrible, but that didn't matter any longer.

Hours later, he still hadn't fallen asleep. He wasn't sure what time it was, but he guessed it was well after midnight.

'_So cold,'_ Draco thought while shivering on the ground. '_I wonder how selfish it is that I want Harry to come rescue me. No! He better not come - they'll kill him if he does. Harry… stay where you are!' _Draco pleaded in his mind. It broke his heart when he thought of how scared and upset Harry must be, not knowing where Draco was. He knew that Harry would still be at the castle, blaming himself for everything right now. _'It's not your fault,'_ Draco wanted to tell him, _'I don't blame you for anything.'_

Draco closed his eyes and tried to fall asleep. Even though he was numb from the cold, his heart was aching to be with Harry.

_-end of chapter-_

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